Dr. Sara DiazWGST 202: Gender, Difference, and PowerGonzaga University

Feminization of Poverty

Key Terms

•Gendered Division of Labor•Mommy Tax•Glass Ceiling/Sticky Floor•Pink Collar Jobs•Wage Gap

Women’s Wages

• Calculation based on median annual earnings:

• According to AAUW in 2013, women earned 78 cents for every dollar that men earned

• For the first time since 2006, up 1 cent from 2012

• 1963 women earned 59 cents of every dollar men earned.

Which Women?

All Women

White Women

Black Women

Asian American Women

Latina AI/AN PI0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

77% 78%

64%

90%

54%59%

65%

2013 Average Annual Earnings as % of White Male

Which Jobs?• Controlled for occupation there is still a 7% gap upon

graduation that widens to 10% ten years after graduation.

EditorsSecondary School Teachers

Financial ManagersMedical ScientistsRegistered Nurses

Computer ProgrammersLawyers

Pharmacists

$- $1,000 $2,000 $3,000

80% 90%

74% 80%

88%81%

79%86%

2013 Weekly Earnings Gap by Occupa-tion

Men Women

Career Wage Gap

• Wage differentials must be multiplied by impact on Social Security, health care, retirement funds.• Lifetime $250k to 1 million dollars less than

Men. • Having children has a negative impact for

women, positive for men.• Consider the effects of the gender wage gap on

same-sex households.• Disproportionate number of lesbian households in

poverty.

What is the Value of Work?

• Market Value?• Is this a neutral value?

• Who determines the value of certain kinds of work? • Comparable worth• tree cutters vs child care workers.

• Crittenden’s Advice:• Analysis of different components that go into a

job, put a value on it, add it back up and recommend a salary which compensates for "productive" and emotional labor.

Feminist Interventions

• Good-quality child care subsidized by government and employers• Comparable worth of women’s jobs• Return to school to improve their educational

qualifications • Opposed sexual harassment• Exposed the dangers of occupational injury and health

hazards of toxic work environments • Argued for women in senior positions in all fields

Equal Pay Act - 1963

• It is illegal to pay a woman lower rate for same work as a man on the basis of gender alone.• Differences in seniority, merit, quality or

quantity of work can still justify differences in pay.• This was primarily for government jobs.

Civil Rights Act – 1964

• Made discrimination on the basis of gender (in addition to race) illegal .• Could only claim discrimination based on one category. • Discrimination against black women but not black men

or white women• Could not claim discrimination • Had to prove that it was occurring for either ALL

women or ALL black workers. • This created a legal loophole that gave women of color

little legal standing with respect to workplace discrimination

Other Landmark Cases• Schultz v Wheaton Glass Co (1970) US Court of Appeals for the

Third Circuit• Ruled that jobs need to be “substantially equal” but not “identical”

to fall under the protection of the Equal Pay Act. An employer cannot for example, change the job titles of women workers in order to pay them less than men.

• Corning Glass Works v Brennan (1974) US Supreme court• Ruled that employers cannot justify paying women lower wages

because that is what they traditionally received under the “going market rate.”

• Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (2008)• Response to regressive Supreme Court Ruling in Ledbetter v Good

Year Tire Co.• Extends statue of limitations on EPA complaints• Allows each paycheck to be claimed separately

Class Inequalities

• Feminization of poverty• “Women and children constitute the majority

of poor people in the United States and throughout the world, a result of structural inequalities and discriminatory policies” (G-3)

The poorest groups in the U.S.• Women raising children alone• Women over 65 living alone

Discussion Question

How has the recession effected men and women differently?

Intersections?