The gap in pay between men and women who work in equivalent jobs is much larger than lawmakers -- or Americans -- realize, a panel of experts on the issue says.
In a May 2 briefing for congressional staffers, panelists said the gap is so huge that by the time men and women end their prime working years, at age 59, the cumulative pay for a woman worker is only 38 percent of that of men in equivalent jobs.
The panelists, including Kim Gandy of the National Organization for Women, Martha Burk of the National Council of Women's Organizations and Dr. Heidi Hartmann of the Institute for Women's Policy Research, used the data to again urge passage of two pieces of legislation designed to close the gap.
One, the Fair Pay Act (S. 840/H.R. 1697) would outlaw wage discrimination in female-dominated or minority-dominated occupations by establishing the principle of equal pay for equivalent work.
The other, the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 841/H.R. 1687) would put teeth in the 43-year-old Equal Pay Act by letting women sue for punitive and compensatory damages from employers who break that law, and by banning employers from retaliating against workers who share salary data with their colleagues.
Past sessions of the GOP-run Congress bottled up both bills, so part of the early-May meeting focused on how to get the message of unequal pay out to the field, beyond its supporters, to bring public pressure on recalcitrant lawmakers. "The Equal Pay Act doesn't protect us very well," Burk said.
Federal data show that women workers overall earn 76 cents for each dollar a man earns, but the gaps are wider for African-American (66 cents) and Latina (55 cents) women. But in the prime earning years of ages 26-59, the gap starts at 76 cents and progressively grows, the panelists said--until the cumulative gap leaves women's earnings under 40 percent of mens' earnings for the same time period.
"No one has ever claimed the entire gap is because of discrimination" on the basis of sex, Hartmann said. But even after factoring out other impacts--including the shorter amount of time women spend in the workforce--discrimination still is the only explanation left for much of the difference.
Much of the gap occurs, Hartmann said, because occupations traditionally thought of as "female" are less well-paid than their male equivalents. And when an occupation becomes more "female," they said, its pay scale slips. When an occupation becomes more "male," the pay increases -- but the pay gap between the sexes within that occupation widens.
Another large part of the gap is because one particular occupation, teaching, is traditionally thought of as "female" and teachers are very underpaid, Hartmann said. She noted that, unlike other groups of women "Asian-Americans have the highest pay relative to men because, among other things, they're not school teachers."
And a third reason for the pay gap is job titles. The jobs of the men and women may be equivalent, but the male workers get more-impressive titles -- and higher pay. The panelists said women are also hurt and the cumulative gap widens because they spend an average of four years less in the full-time workforce than men do during those prime earning years.
Child-raising accounts for that four-year gap. And when women return, it is often to lower-level jobs than they would have had they remained in the workforce, the panelists added.
The pay gap affects women at all income levels, Gandy said. "When we looked at women vice presidents of Wal-Mart -- and there are only four of them -- they had an average salary of $278,000. The male vice presidents had an average of $430,000," she said.
The million-employee retail giant, known for its anti-worker stands, is 70 percent female. It faces the nation's largest-ever class-action sex discrimination case, covering 1.6 million past and present women workers, in federal court in San Francisco.
The pay gap also affects women after they leave the work-force, noted Martha Young of the Older Women's League. "This means really bad information for women as they age, and that includes bad news on Social Security," she said. Due to the lower incomes while working, the average female retiree has an annual income of $15,615, she noted, about half of the figure ($29,171) for the average male retiree.
That's including the fact that female retirees can take the higher of either their own Social Security benefits or survivors' benefits accrued by their husbands, she noted. GOP President George W. Bush's Social Security privatization plan does not mention survivors' benefits. Those benefits, the panelists noted, "put the lie to" Bush's statement that Social Security benefits cannot be passed on when retirees die.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
The gap in pay between men and women who work in equivalent jobs is much larger than lawmakers — or Americans — realize, a panel of experts on the issue says.
In a May 2 briefing for congressional staffers, panelists said the gap is so huge that by the time men and women end their prime working years, at age 59, the cumulative pay for a woman worker is only 38 percent of that of men in equivalent jobs.
The panelists, including Kim Gandy of the National Organization for Women, Martha Burk of the National Council of Women’s Organizations and Dr. Heidi Hartmann of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, used the data to again urge passage of two pieces of legislation designed to close the gap.
One, the Fair Pay Act (S. 840/H.R. 1697) would outlaw wage discrimination in female-dominated or minority-dominated occupations by establishing the principle of equal pay for equivalent work.
The other, the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 841/H.R. 1687) would put teeth in the 43-year-old Equal Pay Act by letting women sue for punitive and compensatory damages from employers who break that law, and by banning employers from retaliating against workers who share salary data with their colleagues.
Past sessions of the GOP-run Congress bottled up both bills, so part of the early-May meeting focused on how to get the message of unequal pay out to the field, beyond its supporters, to bring public pressure on recalcitrant lawmakers. “The Equal Pay Act doesn’t protect us very well,” Burk said.
Federal data show that women workers overall earn 76 cents for each dollar a man earns, but the gaps are wider for African-American (66 cents) and Latina (55 cents) women. But in the prime earning years of ages 26-59, the gap starts at 76 cents and progressively grows, the panelists said–until the cumulative gap leaves women’s earnings under 40 percent of mens’ earnings for the same time period.
“No one has ever claimed the entire gap is because of discrimination” on the basis of sex, Hartmann said. But even after factoring out other impacts–including the shorter amount of time women spend in the workforce–discrimination still is the only explanation left for much of the difference.
Much of the gap occurs, Hartmann said, because occupations traditionally thought of as “female” are less well-paid than their male equivalents. And when an occupation becomes more “female,” they said, its pay scale slips. When an occupation becomes more “male,” the pay increases — but the pay gap between the sexes within that occupation widens.
Another large part of the gap is because one particular occupation, teaching, is traditionally thought of as “female” and teachers are very underpaid, Hartmann said. She noted that, unlike other groups of women “Asian-Americans have the highest pay relative to men because, among other things, they’re not school teachers.”
And a third reason for the pay gap is job titles. The jobs of the men and women may be equivalent, but the male workers get more-impressive titles — and higher pay. The panelists said women are also hurt and the cumulative gap widens because they spend an average of four years less in the full-time workforce than men do during those prime earning years.
Child-raising accounts for that four-year gap. And when women return, it is often to lower-level jobs than they would have had they remained in the workforce, the panelists added.
The pay gap affects women at all income levels, Gandy said. “When we looked at women vice presidents of Wal-Mart — and there are only four of them — they had an average salary of $278,000. The male vice presidents had an average of $430,000,” she said.
The million-employee retail giant, known for its anti-worker stands, is 70 percent female. It faces the nation’s largest-ever class-action sex discrimination case, covering 1.6 million past and present women workers, in federal court in San Francisco.
The pay gap also affects women after they leave the work-force, noted Martha Young of the Older Women’s League. “This means really bad information for women as they age, and that includes bad news on Social Security,” she said. Due to the lower incomes while working, the average female retiree has an annual income of $15,615, she noted, about half of the figure ($29,171) for the average male retiree.
That’s including the fact that female retirees can take the higher of either their own Social Security benefits or survivors’ benefits accrued by their husbands, she noted. GOP President George W. Bush’s Social Security privatization plan does not mention survivors’ benefits. Those benefits, the panelists noted, “put the lie to” Bush’s statement that Social Security benefits cannot be passed on when retirees die.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.