Giving Compass' Take:
- Alison Burke lists facts that shed light on the different challenges that women face in the workforce compared to men.
- What action can you take for equal pay? Who are allies for women in traditional workspaces?
- Read the Giving Compass Guide on the equal pay act.
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- Women’s labor force participation has stagnated and reversed since 2000.
- The gap between wages of men and women has fallen over the past several decades, but a significant gender wage gap remains.
- Almost 60% of women would earn more if they were paid the same as men with equivalent levels of education and work hours.
- Disability and widowhood are major drivers of economic insecurity among older women.
- A 10% expansion of the EITC could benefit working mothers and families by lifting more than 600,000 people out of poverty.
- Many women face a tax penalty when they get married, which reduces their labor force participation.
- Women are more likely than men to stop working to care for elderly family members.
- The U.S. is the only industrialized country without a national paid leave policy for mothers.
- The cost of childcare makes center-based care—if not employment itself—unrealistic for many working mothers of young children.
- Postsecondary degrees lead to better labor outcomes, but many student mothers face significant challenges.
Read the full article on women in the workforce by Alison Burke at Brookings.