According
to laws already on the books both in New York
State and the United States
Every class
and race of American woman suffers from the pay gap. And in fact, every group
actually lost financial ground between 2018 and 2019. And for women of color,
the pay gap is crushingly wide. It takes Latina Latina
The gender
pay gap not only hurts women and their families, but it also hurts the
communities they support. That means local businesses are hurt through lost
sales, as are local schools and governments that depend upon sales tax and
property tax dollars to fund the programs and the infrastructure those
communities need to exist.
Collectively, women in New York State New
York State
For
example, in St. Lawrence County, 35% of children live in single parent
households. The majority of these household are headed by women, who are
already struggling to make ends meet because of under-employment, low-wage
jobs, lack of affordable childcare, the gender wage gap and other barriers to
economic success which are far beyond their individual control.
In rural
communities, 76% of
adults report that good jobs are scarce in their area. While, urban areas
experienced a net gain of 3.6 million jobs
from 2007 to 2015, rural areas lost 400,000 jobs during that time. Many rural
areas continue to struggle to recover from the Great Recession.
Women make
up two-thirds of the low-wage workforce, making them especially
likely to face the unstable work schedules – there is no non-traditional hours
professional child care available in most rural areas. In addition to the
challenge of low-wage work, women are disproportionately likely to be caregivers.
Women are nearly 1.4 times more likely than men to provide unpaid
care and help to people who live outside of their home.
When you
factor in that woman are more likely to face workplace discrimination than
men, women face a triple whammy: the lack of good, living
wage jobs, the gender pay gap, and being trapped in jobs that put them at risk. Nearly 36% of women who
filed sexual harassment charges from 2012 to 2016 claimed that they faced
retaliation as a result, such as their employers forcing them out of their jobs
or reducing their hours.
Rural places already face additional barriers to work. The
lack of access to broadband slows the growth of rural economies, hampering
total employment growth and the opening of new businesses. Plus, rural
economies have less industrial diversity than urban areas. The loss of a central
employer leads to tremendous job loss. We’ve certainly seen that here in St. Lawrence County.
In the North Country , the wage gap is 78.5% for women’s median
salary as compared to a man’s. That translates to a wage gap of more than
$9,800 per year. The numbers speak for themselves when it comes to the economic
impact for families and households.
Even though
the Paycheck Fairness Act just passed the House of Representatives, there is
little hope that it will pass in the Republican-led Senate or be supported by
the Trump Administration.
Yet is it
government at every level that stands to gain the most from real and
enforceable pay equity laws and practices. The boost to the economy by putting
fair and equal pay in the hands of every American family would be enormous. It
would mean $17 billion additional dollars here in New York State
Equal Pay
would take a lot of the social safety net burden off local counties as well. New York
When
politicians tell you the nation can’t afford equal pay, they are only listening
to the people who have bought their time and attention.
