| Nancy Mion & Judith McGinn
NYS Public Policy Directors
"Women's Economic Security"
There are many AAUW resources available for work on this topic:
The Association has a resource kit filled with facts and suggested activities. It may be downloaded from the Association website - http://www.aauw.org/issue_advocacy/actionpages/payequity.cfm
In addition, check out the work that other organizations are doing on this issue. "Women on the Job", for one, works specifically on Long Island for Women's Equal Rights in the Workplace. There are details linked directly here:
Pamela Stone and Arielle Kuperberg, both of Hunter College, CUNY, have written an article titled Anti-Discrimination vs. Anti-Poverty? :
A Comparison of Pay Equity and Living Wage Reforms.
SUMMARY. Welfare reform focuses attention on the potential of pay equity and living wage strategies to move women out of the ranks of the working poor. In this study, we use data from a large municipality in the Northeast to simulate implementation of the two policies and compare their relative effectiveness in raising the earnings of female- and minority- dominated jobs, narrowing gender- and race-based earnings differentials, and lifting workers out of poverty. Results show that pay equity raises salaries across-the-board, but especially among low-skilled and minority-dominated jobs, and closes the wage gap. Both pay equity and living wage dramatically reduce the incidence of poverty; living wage, however, leaves virtually untouched the type of discrimination targeted by pay equity and has little impact on the wage gap. The implications of these results for addressing the needs of women transitioning off public assistance and wage justice are discussed. We conclude that both policies should be an integral part of welfare reform efforts, as well as key planks in an overall wage justice strategy. For complete article contact public-policy@aauw-nys.org.
Journal of Women, Politics & Policy) Vol. 27, No. 3/4, 2005, pp. 23-39
A newly released study, New Report: Economic Status of New York Women Has Declined, documents the fact that Women in New York State fare worse economically than they did in 1989. A summary of the article is available here, with more information at
http://www.iwpr.org.
Fast Facts:
- A woman with a college degree earns 70% more than a woman with a high school diploma.
- Of the 1,350,000 receiving Baccalaureate degrees last year 800,000 were women
- High-wage work is available in occupations that are considered nontraditional. "Non-traditional" means less than 25% of the workers are women. A few examples are motion picture projectionist, police officer and detectives, electricians, carpenters, technicians.
- 82% of executive businesswomen played organized sports after elementary school. In the past three decades, Title IX has led to a 400 percent increase in the rate of female participation in college sports and a more than 800 percent increase in participation at the high school level.
- WAGE GAP IN OCCUPATIONS
In occupations where 50% or more are women, the pay is still lower for women than for men who perform the same job. In addition, as the percentage of women in an occupation increases, the wages drop.
| |
Full Time Median Weekly Earnings:
|
| |
Occupation |
Men |
Women |
Wage Gap |
% Less |
| |
General Office Clerks |
450 |
378 |
72 |
16 |
| |
Nurses Aides |
341 |
296 |
45 |
13 |
| |
Data Entry |
473 |
384 |
89 |
19 |
| |
Insurance Adjusters |
655 |
473 |
182 |
28 |
| |
Insurance Sales |
755 |
493 |
262 |
35 |
| |
Health Aides |
340 |
300 |
40 |
12 |
| |
Elem. School Teachers |
719 |
655 |
64 |
9 |
| |
Bookkeepers |
341 |
293 |
48 |
14 |
| |
Accountants |
791 |
590 |
201 |
25 |
Source: AFL-CIO
The following resolution was passed at the 2005 AAUW-NYS Convention:
Resolution Calling for an Action Task Force on Equity for Women
Whereas the mission statement of the American Association of University Women promotes equity for all women and girls, and
Whereas the American Association of University women Education Foundation provides funds to foster equity, and
Whereas in principle and practice the American Association of University Women values and seeks a diverse membership with no barriers to full participation in this organization on the basis of gender, race, creed, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability or class, and
Whereas the American Association of University Women has long fought to end wage discrimination, and
Whereas the American Association of University Women continues to believe that pay equity is a simple matter of justice and strongly supports initiatives that seek to close the persistent and sizable wage gaps between men and women, and
Whereas the Education Foundation has produced research that focuses on the Gaps in Earnings for Women, and
Whereas Equity is Still an Issue, therefore, be it
Resolved that NYS AAUW undertake an initiative on Equity for Women which would fully support and promote economic equity opportunity for all women and girls across a diverse economic and class spectrum. This initiative would be under the auspices of the Equity Chair. Some possible objectives include:
Monitor the instances of pay inequity, employment inequity, and discrimination against women in the workplace that occur in New York State,
Report these incidents to the branches and members of the state, and
Provide support and information about how AAUW-NYS leaders, branches and members can advocate and be proactive on workplace issues,
Publicize and promote to branches around the state equity issues and AAUW’s mission-based activities in this program area,
Identify, help develop, and distribute branch programming models for local equity action projects, and
Work in coalition with like-minded state and local organizations on women’s equity issues
With the result that AAUW members will live the AAUW mission to make a difference for the women and girls of New York State.
Submitted by Jane Smith, Bath Branch & Donna Seymour, St. Lawrence County Branch
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