equal pay – RI Future

May 12, 2014May 13, 2014

The candidates weigh in on women’s issues

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

Six months before the general election, the six candidates for governor came together for the first time last week. And they did so to answer questions about gender equality. The Women’s Fund of Rhode Island hosted a forum Thursday to query the candidates on “so-called women’s issues,” as Gina Raimondo, the only female candidate, labelled them in her opening remarks.

Steve Ahlquist filmed the entire event and broke it down question-by-question, starting with each candidate’s opening remarks:

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Question 1: What can you do to address unequal pay in our state?

Ken Block said there is “no place for wage discrimination” and that there are already laws in place to deal with it. Clay Pell called it a question of fundamental justice and of economic growth and “I think we have to do a lot more than just enforce the laws that are on the books.” Allan Fung said there are more barriers in the public sector than the private sector to equal pay in pay equity and promotions. Todd Giroux spoke about more generic economic reforms that don’t speak directly to equal pay.

Several of the Democrats said raising the minimum wage will have positive impacts on pay equity.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Question 2: Do you support policies, like family leave, that benefit working women?

The Republican candidates tacked to different directions on this question. Fung said, “I absolutely do support a lot of those policies that [provide] flexibility for people into the workforce.” Block said he allows for family leave at his business, but then railed against the temporary disability insurance program in Rhode Island, calling it among the most expensive in the nation.

The Democrats were more united. “I absolutely think we need to a better job pr providing more flexible work places,” said Raimondo. Taveras agreed and Pell went furthest saying overall Rhode Island has been moving in the wrong direction when it comes to making women more equal in the workplace. He cited state childcare assistance being been cut by 80 percent since 2007 as evidence.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Question 3: What will you do as governor to proactively affect gender inequality?

Pell committed to appointing an equal mix of men and women to boards and commissions while Block said he would “strive” to have an equal mix in his administration. Raimondo, said there are no laws in Rhode Island to protect pregnant women in the workplace, said she’s the only candidate to have been pregnant in the workplace. Taveras said he knows it from a father’s perspective.

Todd Giroux said he has used the family leave act to take care of his father. He said as the “openly-gay candidate in the race, I am all about equality.” Raimondo . Taveras said he understands some of the challenges from a father’s perspective. As governor he said he will consider “what is best for the working families.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Question 4: Reproductive justice. Will you veto bill that limits a women’s right to make their own health care decisions?

Pell, Raimondo and Taveras were clear on this question: each began their statements by saying yes, they would. Fung said he supports a women’s right to choose.

Block said, “The question of abortion is settled federal law. The Supreme Court has weighed in and I have no interest in challenging or changing that law here in the state.” Giroux, too, said he does not wish to weigh in on this issue as governor, but said he is opposed to abortion. He said a college girlfriend had an abortion without telling him. “In America today, you have a right to choose and your baby has a right to life.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Question 5: How will you ensure women can get out of poverty?

Pell called this the critical question of the election. Raimondo said, “It’s time that we take a different approach to the way we deliver social services and we focus more on results. We re spending money but it often isn’t effective. My approach would be break down the silos, fund what works.” Taveras said he has a three-pronged approach: raising the minimum wage, ensuring affordable childcare and investing in “cradle to career” education.

Block, also talked about education, saying he is “dedicated to education reform.” He and Fung both said fostering private sector growth will help raise people out of poverty.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Question 6: What are you plans to ensure recent college grads can find good jobs?

Instead of answering the question, Taveras and Block really get to the heart of the political difference between conservatives and progressives in Rhode Island.

Taveras said Rhode Island needs a climate that tells young people this is a place to be, this is a place to start a business and to live. But Block countered, “We won’t get the new jobs we need if it makes much more sense for businesses to set up in Massachusetts than it does in Rhode Island. It’s a brutal fact.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Question 7: Sexual assault on campus

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Question 8: How will you make expansion of women-owned businesses a reality?

Fung and Block spoke of focusing on the larger economy. Block said, “we need to increase the ease with which individuals can start businesses in this state, whether they are male or whether they are female.”

Raimondo said access to capital programs for women and minorities matter. “It’s time we face the reality that women have been left behind in the business world and address it.” Taveras said he wants to work with the Center for Women and Enterprise and the SBA to “open the doors and create opportunities.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

…And their closing remarks:

April 12, 2014April 14, 2014

NBC 10 Wingmen: Should we treat women equally in the workplace

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

On aggregate, women are paid less in the workplace. Nationally, women earn 77 cents for every dollar a man makes and here in Rhode Island they earn 81 cents for every dollar a man makes. (We’re number 14!)

But what do we do about it? Carolyn Mark, president of Rhode Island NOW, offers her thoughts here and Providence state Senator Gayle Goldin gives hers here. Or you can watch me and Justin Katz take the total white guy approach to this topic and talk about it in the context of the construction industry!

That aside, I think we both make interesting points when it comes to what role the people should play in leveling the workplace playing field. Essentially, my point is we need to value caregivers as much as (if not more!) than hammer swingers.

News, Weather and Classifieds for Southern New England

April 10, 2014

Equal pay for women means real prosperity for middle class

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

On Tuesday, I went to the White House where I met President Obama and many extraordinary women who have spent decades advocating for equality. Together, we marked Equal Pay Day, the day to which women have to work in 2014 in order to catch up to what men earned in 2013, by watching the president sign two executive actions designed to remove barriers to equal pay.

Equal pay for equal work is not only a matter of fairness, it’s a matter of rebuilding our economy. What do you get when 52 percent of the population is paid unfairly? You get an economy where 52 percent of the population has diminished buying power. That’s as lousy for business as it is for families. And for women-headed households, particularly single-parent households, the effects are pronounced. We know in Rhode Island women make up the majority of minimum wage workers and are the majority of parents living in poverty.

While the president’s steps this week are important, they won’t solve the problem on their own.

In Rhode Island and nationwide, policymakers must shift our focus to what’s good for the middle class. It’s a strategy that does work: A thriving middle class is widely recognized as one of the key drivers of the prosperity the United States enjoyed in the years after World War II.

Instead of talking about merely creating jobs, we must demand that jobs pay a living and equitable wage, create pathways to success, and recognize the complexity of balancing a career while managing a family. We need economy-boosting jobs, not economy-busting ones.

When I championed Temporary Caregiver Insurance, our state’s new paid family leave insurance, I did so because when a person has to take unpaid leave to care for a family member, that family’s financial security is at risk. Just a few weeks of paid time off means a husband doesn’t need to make the difficult decision between caring for his wife struggling with cancer or paying for groceries. Instead, workers will be able to continue paying bills and putting food on their tables, which in turn helps support our local economy. As of this week, nearly 1,000 Rhode Islanders have used Temporary Caregiver Insurance, including the mother I met recently who had just returned to work after the birth of her baby. Now her husband is home with their daughter for his four weeks of paid leave. That time spent caring for and bonding with their new baby, without forgoing a paycheck, strengthens that family and our state.

When I pushed for the expansion of child care subsidies for people in job training programs, I did so because unemployed people with children are among those who most need to use our job training programs to get ahead. We had set up a system that just didn’t work for parents who are jobless, underemployed or already struggling to pay their bills, and in need of a pathway to a new career. When we talk about rebuilding the economy, we must create programs that work for everyone.

When people work hard, they should be able to get ahead; that’s our American Dream. But unless we demand fair pay for that work, and create a work environment that recognizes that people who go to work still have families and obligations outside of the workplace, it will increasingly become nothing but a dream for most people. We must embrace a strategy that puts people first, strengthens the middle class, and recognizes that businesses will succeed when middle-class families have a little extra in their budgets.

This week, I am joining with state legislators from around the country for a week of action with the theme “Real Prosperity Across America.” By shifting our state’s and nation’s focus to expanding and strengthening the middle class, we can create a Rhode Island – and a country – where we all can work and succeed.

April 8, 2014

Equal Pay in Rhode Island: 2014 Edition

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

Another day, another dollar. Well, make that 81 cents if you are a woman working full time in Rhode Island.

Today is Equal Pay Day, a day that symbolizes how many days into 2014 women need to work in order to make what men made in 2013. Of course, that’s for women as a whole – if you are African American you will need to work until May 11th, and if you are Hispanic/Latina you will have to work until June 17th.

There are few statistics out there that have been more maligned, confused, distorted, or dismissed as the statistics on equal pay. Some imply that the wage gap can be completely explained by sex discrimination, while others assert that the wage gap is caused exclusively by women’s choices. It seems that the greatest barrier to fixing the wage gap is that we can’t even agree on the problem.

And, it really matters. Women who work full time in Rhode Island are taking in, on average, $9,901 less per year than their male counterparts – meaning less money for food, housing, gas, and other discretionary expenses. Which is a really big problem given that families have come to rely on women’s wages to make ends meet.

This year, the American Association of University Women released a report entitled “The Simple Truth” in an attempt to shed some light on the oft-misunderstood statistics. The message is clear: yes, the wage gap does, in part, reflect men’s and women’s life choices, BUT not all of the gap can be explained away by this. In fact, even after accounting for college major, occupation, economic sector, hours worked, months unemployed since graduation, GPA, type of undergraduate institution, institution selectivity, age, geographical region and marital status, reports show persistent, unexplained gaps between men and women’s wages of between 7% and 12%.

Complex problems don’t often allow for simple solutions, and the wage gap is no exception. But the fact that this gap is complex is no excuse for not actively working to close it. And there are plenty of opportunities to go around, for individuals, employers, and government alike.

Individuals can work to shift a culture that historically undervalues occupations that have been traditionally held by women. And, women can make different career choices: whether you believe women freely choose lower paid occupations or are socialized into choosing “helping” professions over more lucrative ones, the fact is that getting ourselves into more nontraditional jobs will help to close the wage gap. And, yes, developing stronger negotiating skills can help women secure higher wages, something that is so critical early on in one’s career as those wages will become the basis for a lifetime of earnings. We can also work toward a more equitable distribution of child care and household responsibilities within the family so that men and women have equal opportunities to succeed in the workplace.

Employers can actively pursue workplace policies of fairness, openness and transparency when it comes to employee jobs and wages. They can hire more women in nontraditional jobs. They can provide on-site child care. They can recognize that some jobs have historically been undervalued because those jobs have traditionally been held by women, and can move to a more equitable pay system based on qualifications, years of experience, and job duties as a way to more equitably value the contributions of all employees. Pay equity audits are an important tool that can be used to monitor and address any gender pay differences. And, by the way, all of this can be good for the bottom line: studies have shown that workers who believe that they are paid fairly have higher morale and are more likely to contribute their best efforts to the job.

Government has an important role to play in creating a level playing field. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was an important first step in ensuring equal pay for equal work. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act bars all discrimination in employment, including in hiring, firing, promotion, and wages on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. And, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 provides some additional protections against discrimination.

But there is still more to do. The Paycheck Fairness Act, currently pending in Congress, would close loopholes, strengthening incentives to prevent pay discrimination, and prohibiting retaliation against workers who inquire about employers’ wage practices or disclose their own wages. And, government can do more to provide child care supports to working families. Finally, government at both the federal and state level can use their status as employers to ensure pay equity in public sector employment, and can use the leverage of government contracts to ensure fairness and equity for those businesses and individuals who perform contract work with the government.

It’s time to stop debating the wage gap. While the gap can’t be completely chalked up to overt sex discrimination, neither can it be chalked up to women’s choices. The statistical fact is that the wage gap exists. The question is, what are we going to do about it?

Carolyn Mark is president of the Rhode Island Chapter of the National Organization for Women. To learn more, visit www.rinow.org.

April 17, 2012April 17, 2012

Equal Pay for Equal Work Still Elusive for Women

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

April 17 is Equal Pay Day, a date that symbolizes how far beyond the end of 2011 and into the year 2012 women must work to earn what men earned in 2011. Equal Pay Day was established by the National Committee on Pay Equity in 1996 to raise awareness of the persistent gender wage gap in the United States. According to NCPE, the wage gap has narrowed about 15 percentage points during the last 23 years. At this rate of change, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research estimates that it will take 50 years to close the wage gap.

How are women faring in Rhode Island? According to the National Partnership for Women & Families, the median pay for a woman working full time in RI is $40,532 per year, while the median yearly pay for a man is $50,567. This means that women in RI earn 80 cents for every dollar paid to men, slightly higher than the national average of 77 cents. (There is evidence to suggest that our narrower wage gap is due to an erosion in men’s earnings, not an improvement in women’s.) However, women of color in RI experience significantly higher disparities. African American women working full time earn 65 cents for every dollar earned by men, and Latinas earn 47 cents for every dollar. Taken in total, full-time working women in RI lose approximately $1.5 billion dollars each year due to the wage gap.

At the same time, women in RI are increasingly responsible for providing for their families. There are 54,655 households in RI headed by women, and more than 25% live below the federal poverty level.

Why is there a wage gap? The wage gap exists, in large part, because of what economists call occupational segregation. More than half of all women work in sales, clerical and service jobs, and studies have shown that when women dominate an occupation it pays less.

While some of the wage gap can be explained by what some might call ‘personal choices,’ according to a Government Accountability Office study, the wage gap persists even when work patterns and education are taken into account. Interestingly, women with children are paid 2.5% less than women without children, while men with children experience a boost of 2.1% over men without children. In addition, women are paid less than men across industries. And, interestingly, even though women are attending institutions of higher education in record numbers, women with professional degrees are paid 67 cents for every dollar earned by men with professional degrees. Even more shocking, women with doctoral degrees are paid less than men with master’s degrees, and women with master’s degrees earn less than men with bachelor’s degrees.

Is there anything that can be done to help close the gender gap? Actually, there’s a lot:

Ask Congress to strengthen US laws to ensure gender equity in employment. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 was an important step toward making it easier for women to challenge unequal pay. But the next step is to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would expand the scope of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Fair Labor Standards Act for the purpose of addressing income disparities between men and women.

Support programs that promote non-traditional career paths for girls. Programs such as Grrl Tech, run by Tech Collaborative right here in Rhode Island, work collaboratively with educational institutions to promote science and technology with high school girls from around the state with the express purpose of increasing participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) career fields.

Support programs designed to get more women into non-traditional jobs. Over ten years ago, the Rhode Island Commission on Women (recently de-funded) identified the need to move women, particular low-income women, into non-traditional jobs. They noted, for example, that a secretary made, on average, $26,000 while an electrician made $62,000. Rhode Island needs to invest in efforts to get more women into higher paying jobs.

Eliminate gender rating in the health insurance industry. Women already earn significantly less than men, but, in the individual and small group market, have to pay significantly more than men because being a woman is treated as a pre-existing condition. A bill before the General Assembly would make gender rating illegal, whether or not the Supreme Court upholds national health care reform.

Increase the minimum wage. According to the National Women’s Law Center, women make up nearly two-thirds of minimum wage workers in the United States. The RI General Assembly is considering a proposal to increase the minimum wage from $7.40 per hour (established in 2007) to $7.75 per hour. Lest some think that increasing our minimum wage will make us less competitive, remember that the minimum wage is $8 per hour in Massachusetts and $8.25 per hour in Connecticut.

Carolyn Mark is president of the Rhode Island Chapter of the National Organization for Women (RI NOW). Melody Drnach is a RI NOW board member, past RI NOW president and VP Action for NOW in Washington, D.C.