Economic equity news is a weekly round-up of articles by Donna Seymour of AAUW-NYS that features our core values of poverty solutions, opportunity and access, workplace fairness, healthy lives, equal pay and representation at all tables. Sign up for our mailing list to receive this directly to your inbox.
- Why female physicians are paid less than men via Science Daily
In a survey of hospital medical physicians across the United States, women made nearly $15,000 less than their male counterparts, with a portion of this disparity explained by female doctors’ tendency to prioritize collegiality and control over personal time, rather than substantial pay. The figure was determined after controlling for a number of factors, including age, geography, specialty, and amount and type of clinical work.
- Gender gap in federal salaries? Let’s not go there anymore, new personnel chief says via The Washington Post
The acting director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Beth Cobert, is taking steps to eliminate the wage gap in the federal government. In 2012, OPM found that women in government still made 12.7 percent less than men, overall. To help close that gap, Cobert informed senior government leaders that a common metric for setting wage rates of new employees — prior salary history — can no longer be the basis for establishing salaries.
- New York, Combating Worker Abuse, Mandates Salon Owners to Secure Wage Bonds via The NewYork Times
To help ensure that future nail salon workers who win judgments against their employers in wage theft cases are paid, Cuomo will put into effect a new rule today. All nail salon owners will be required to secure wage bonds by Oct. 6, or face fines and other penalties.
Women are more likely to take out student loans than men, in an economy where college costs significantly more than it did a generation ago. While it’s a significant feminist achievement that women now account for 57 percent of graduates earning bachelor’s degrees, those women are more likely than their male peers to start their careers in a financial hole: 68 percent of those female graduates are leaving school with some amount of student loan debt, compared to 63 percent of men.
Netflix Inc is offering up to a year of paid maternity and paternity leave for employees to care for a newborn or newly adopted child, significantly raising the bar for parental benefits in corporate America.
Donna Seymour, who hales from the (far upstate) North Country of NYS, has spent 40 plus years advocating for children, women and family issues, equity, sustainability, and social justice issues. Currently serving as the Public Policy VP for AAUW-NYS (the American Association Universality Women), she also is a member the League of Women Voters, the Equal Pay Coalition, PTA, NOW, and Planned Parenthood, just to name a few.