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.
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“Women’s work” and the gender pay gap: How discrimination, societal norms, and other forces affect women’s occupational choices—and their pay via the Economic Policy Institute
Women are paid 79 cents for every dollar paid to men—despite the fact that over the last several decades millions more women have joined the workforce and made huge gains in their educational attainment. Too often it is assumed that this pay gap is not evidence of discrimination, but is instead a statistical artifact of failing to adjust for factors that could drive earnings differences between men and women. However, these factors—particularly occupational differences between women and men—are themselves often affected by gender bias.
During their working years, women tend to earn less than men, and when they retire, they’re more likely to live in poverty. These are women who raised children and cared for sick and elderly family members, often taking what savings and income they had and spending it on things besides their own retirement security.
- How to Plan for Your Maternity Leave via A Better Balance
Planning for maternity leave can feel confusing. The United States is the only high-income country that does not guarantee workers or their families paid leave following the birth or adoption of a child. So what are your rights once your baby arrives? Understanding federal law and the laws of your state can help demystify the process of prepping for your maternity leave. If you live in California, New Jersey, Rhode Island, or New York, you may be entitled to paid time to bond with your baby. New York’s recently-passed law, the most generous in the nation, will become effective in 2018. For more information, check out our Paid Family Leave Laws chart.
- Here are the cities where women in tech are most grossly underpaid via Business Insider
If you’re a woman in the tech industry, Atlanta might not be the best city to work in. That’s according to data released by salary-comparison website Comparably, which shows that female tech employees in the Georgia city don’t even come close to making what their male counterparts do.
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Earning Less Money Isn’t A Choice That Women Just Make via The Huffington Post
Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, has heard that claim a lot since she published research showing that women earn $4 an hour less than men right out of college. Gould and EPI researcher Jessica Schieder published a paper on Wednesday explaining why the pay gap has little to do with real choice.
Donna Seymour, who hails 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 University Women), she is also a member the League of Women Voters, the Equal Pay Coalition, PTA, NOW, and Planned Parenthood, just to name a few.