Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Binders Full of Women

Contributed by Ellen Voie, WomenInTrucking.org
03/11/2013

 



During a presidential debate Governor Romney used the phrase, “binders full of women,” when he was referring to the resumes of potential candidates for his Massachusetts cabinet.

The discussion was initiated by an audience member’s question to the candidate for his thoughts on solving the wage disparity for women.  The former governor’s response was that he made an effort to look for women to fill positions of influence at the state level.

With women now making up over half of the workforce, it would seem logical that more women would be progressing toward leadership roles and the accompanying higher incomes.  According to Kiplinger, women hold 52 percent of managerial and professional jobs (doubled since 1980).  Yet, despite these gains, women still earn 77 percent of what men receive.

There are numerous reasons for this disparity, but the statistic itself could be the most distorted part of the equation.  Diana Furchtgott-Roth, a former U.S. Department of Labor chief economist and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute believes the figure is misleading, “These wage rations are calculated from government data and do not take into account differences in education, job title and responsibility, regional labor markets, work experience, occupation, and time in the workforce.”

Instead of just comparing females versus males, there are other factors that should be considered instead of passing laws based on gender discrimination.

A report by the Federal Reserve of St. Louis last year suggests two reasons why women earn less than men.  First, women are more likely to work fewer hours than men and the authors recommend a comparison based on hourly pay as opposed to weekly or annual salaries.  Women often reduce their workweek to accommodate family responsibilities and subsequently forgo overtime opportunities as well.  These both result in a reduction of overall income for women.

Secondly, women are more likely to leave their careers to take a break after childbirth and often to stay home with an infant or preschool child. Disruptions in employment often mean delays in training and a lower potential for promotion, both essential for career and salary advancement.

The authors also site research that suggests women have a “weaker labor force attachment than men,” and the result is often a career choice with a shorter on the job training and a lower cost associated with turnover.  This places an, “implied lower value,” on women’s work experience.

Sheryl Sandberg, current COO of Facebook urges women to become better negotiators to secure higher salaries.  Only seven percent of women negotiate their first salary compared to 57 percent of men, Sandberg claims.   When moving to a more lucrative position, women are often starting from a lower income level than their male counterparts.  As their careers progress and women earn more, they are already at a disadvantage from the start.

One possible solution is offered in the “Salary Disclosure to Promote Equality Act.”  This is a petition for a government act that would require the posting of a pay range for public and private sector jobs and disallow a requirement for applicants to share salary history.  The initiative, by Katie Donovan, a salary coach, would ensure that a company would not know what a candidate is currently making and could not lower the offer based on that information.

Another solution women could consider when making career choices is to choose an occupation that is typically dominated by men.  The U.S. Department of Labor defines a non-traditional job for women as one in which less than 25 percent of those employed are women.  Women who are employed in non-traditional jobs earn higher wages than women in traditionally female occupations. Jobs in “truck transportation,” are considered as “non traditional” jobs for women.

We all make choices regarding our careers and those choices lead us toward different salary levels and advancement opportunities.  If we continue to point to the overall wage disparity and blame it on gender discrimination, those binders of women won’t create change.

When House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi pushed for the passage of the Fair Pay Act because, she claimed, women earn 23 percent less than men, a reporter challenged her.  The Daily Caller journalist found that women in Ms. Pelosi’s own staff earned an average of 27 percent lower incomes than their male coworkers.  His point?  Statistics can be misleading – and debated.

A report in USA Today cited a survey of 400 economists conducted by the American Economics Association to explore gender discrimination in their field. They found that 76 percent of women felt that opportunities in economics favor men.  Eighty percent of men said women are being favored or the process is neutral.

The debate surrounding gender based salary discrimination and advancement opportunities continues to divert our attention and our energy away from issues that can be solved without blaming others (men) for the problem.

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