|
 On average women earn less than men, but the causes
of this problem are multifaceted and extend far beyond the casual
assumption that wage inequality for equitable work is the key
culprit. In fact, federal law has prohibited employers from
gender-based wage discrimination since passage of the Equal Pay Act
(1963) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (1964), and this was
reinforced in 2009 with the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay
Act. That the wage gap has persisted through the years is evidence
that systemic and institutional factors are at play that contribute
to this problem.
Since women constitute nearly two-thirds of workers who are employed
at minimum wage jobs, an effort to raise the minimum wage is one of
the means that can be used to address the wage gap. The purchasing
power of the minimum wage (adjusted for inflation) has been erratic
through the years, and the relative value of a minimum wage salary
has declined by nearly 20 percent since the last hike in minimum
wage occurred back in 2009. I would like to see the federal
government implement a three-year tiered plan to raise the minimum
wage to $10.10 by 2019. Individual states and cities would retain
the right to use a minimum wage that his higher than the federal
standard, but this adjustment would significantly raise the
threshold so that wage gap differences would be lessened.
 The federal minimum wage for tipped labor, which stands at $2.13 per
hour, has not been raised in the past fifteen years. Since women
also constitute the vast majority of American workers who are
employed as tipped laborers, an increase in the tipped minimum wage
would also have an impact upon efforts to remedy the wage gap. I
believe that the federal minimum tipped wage should ultimately be
$5.05 (half of the newly proposed minimum wage) to be achieved on a
three-year tiered plan of increase. These two initiatives would go a
long way in helping to remedy much of the wage differences that
account for the wage gap. [to
top of second column] |
 Other factors that must be considered if we hope to address the
wage gap are the levels of support that we find at the state and
federal levels to help provide safe and affordable child care for
working women as well as substantial investment in early childhood
education programs. All too often women who labor among the
so-called “working poor” must make the choice of whether or not they
can work due to the financial constraints that child care costs
provide. Frequently reliance on family to provide such services, or
other less than ideal circumstances, is used as a stopgap measure,
but interruptions in such arrangements makes it difficult for one to
sustain employment for an extended period of time.
We often consider the circumstances of the wage gap as a stand-alone
story that is secondary to other public policy concerns, but we must
use a more holistic approach to recognize the severity of this issue
and summon the means to address it. The wage gap has a direct
correlation to poverty in the United States, and by curious
circumstance women and children are those who fall victim to poverty
more often than not. In addition, among many poor and single-parent
families women are the primary breadwinners, wo wage barriers merely
perpetuate the cycle of poverty for many. Although the policy
initiatives that are outlined here may not be the ultimate systemic
solution that will remedy the wage gap, they certainly will move us
closer to a more equitable wage differential in American society.
Past related
articles
[Text from file received] |
