by Yu-Lan Duggan, International Labor Rights Forum
In a recent online CBS News story titled “In the New Job Market, Who Wins?,” the article asserted that “one key factor shaping the post-crash workforce is the relative ascendance of women.” The article also stated that most job loss has occurred in the male-dominated industries, and gave the implication that female workers will really be the breadwinners in the current economy and take over what has traditionally been seen as a man’s job to “bring home the bacon.”
The reality is, however, that when nationally, women are only paid 80% of what men in the same position would be paid, the female workers will always bring home less despite working the same amount of hours. This was reported in a recent study released by the Institute for Women Policy Research (IWPR) titled “Gender Wage Gap by Occupation.” In the same study, the IWPR found that even in occupations that are predominantly occupied by women, female workers still earn 15-20% less than their male counterparts in those industries. Sadly, the same industries that have predominantly female employees, such as healthcare and services, tend to start at a lower wage when compared to other industries, which means that when women workers are paid even less, the female employees are really taking close to the bare minimum home. So despite the rosy picture that the CBS article tried to paint of female empowerment, what the study reveals is that even if women are the breadwinners, there is less money brought back to the family, and less likelihood that the family will escape from the economic squeeze.
Globally, the economic opportunities for women are even worse. According to the International Labour Organization’s recent report on “Global Employment Trends for Women,” female workers not only receive lower pay, but in many countries, they are often restricted from the ability to work even though it would significantly benefit their families. Even when they are allowed to work, they are often limited in their employment options due to a lack of access to certain industries.
History has shown us that women workers can “bring home the bacon,” and many of them are the breadwinners today. However, the real question should be whether that bacon is the same size as the bacon that would have been brought back by a man, and not whether they are the capable of doing it. Ironically, in an attempt to glamorize the role of women in today’s society, CBS merely demonstrated how unequal society has been to women, and how the only real way for families to successfully survive the recession is for women to be paid the same as men.
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