Thursday, February 25, 2016
Closing The Unpaid Work Gap
The value of a woman’s work must be calculated on a 24-hour
basis, not just when she works her 9-5. The Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development has found that when it comes to unpaid work,
grocery shopping, child care, laundry, etc., women around the world spend 4.5
hours a day which is more than double that of a man. In Claire Miller’s article,
“How Society Pays When Women’s Work is Unpaid”, she states that in order to
balance out these numbers around the globe, it is important to embrace
technology, family-friendly policies, and cultural change.
Being an advanced state, it isn’t difficult to get our tasks
done in a timely fashion. We can load the dishwasher, put our clothes to dry,
and even make dinner, all within an hour. For less developed countries however,
these tasks can take hours and may even require long commutes to and from. Melinda
Gates, co-founder of the Gates foundation notes that with new initiatives, the
foundation will be supplying cellphones to women who cannot afford them in
order to increase productivity.
Paid leave, for both men and women, are essential policies
that can help balance the unpaid work gap. After giving birth, most women are
secluded to their homes while caring for their newborn and without paid leave
it is unlikely for them to return to work. Paternity leave is seen as
unnecessary since some feel that a woman is well equipped to care for an infant
alone but they fail to realize that compared to their financial support, moral
and physical support goes a long way.
As Miller stated and as I strongly support, changing the
mindset of males all around can better help break this never-ending cycle. I
believe it is significant to distribute the daily household tasks evenly among
partners, in addition to any and all financial obligations surrounding the
family. Without these efforts, women are
forced to be dependent upon their partner’s efforts in addition to restrained
in their independent streak.
Please follow this link to view the video created by the Lean In Campaign called #sharetheload, highlighting the imbalance in gender roles.
Miller,
Claire Cain. "How Society Pays When Women’s Work Is Unpaid." The
New York Times. The New York Times, 22 Feb. 2016. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.
http://www.gatesfoundation.org
Monday, February 22, 2016
Celebrating Black Women in Politics
As Black History Month comes to a
close and election season rages on, we are reminded of a powerful political
force at all levels of local, state and national influence: Black women. Fighting for racial and gender equity, Black
women have maintained the highest rates of voter turnout in the past two
presidential elections. With 74% of
Black women voting in 2012, they voted in higher quantities than any other
group, the next closest being White women at 64%. 2015 marked a record-breaking year for Black
women in politics, who make up 21.4% of female members and 4.1% of all members
in the House of Representatives. While
these numbers clearly have a long way to go in order to accurately reflect the
population, significant gains since 2014 show glimmers of increasing
representation.
2016 is already shaping up to be
another landmark year for women of color in politics. African
American Women for Hillary has been an influential organizing force behind
Hillary Clinton’s campaign for democratic presidential nominee. Additionally, the Black Lives Matter
Movement, founded and headed by Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors,
has helped to shape the conversation around economic inequality, police
brutality, mass incarceration in each presidential candidates’ platform. And many speculate that there is more good
news to come. Loretta Lynch, the first
Black woman appointed to U.S. Attorney General is rumored to be a likely
candidate for the open position on the Supreme Court due to the death of former
Justice Scalia. She would be the first
Black woman ever nominated for the coveted position.
While progress has been made,
Black women are nowhere to be found in the Senate and they make up just 1% of
state elected executive officials. Much
work is to be done. The more that Black
women get elected however, the more likely Black women are to vote and to run
for office. As we enter into Women’s
History month, the MWPC would like to recognize and highlight of the amazing
Black women paving the road to political, social and economic justice for all
disenfranchised groups.
--Kathleen Melendy, MWPC Intern
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Big Gains for Women in Politics, but Reproductive Health Still on the Backburner
In 1976, National
Public Radio correspondent Pauline Frederick joined a panel of men for a Ford-Carter
presidential debate, but was not permitted to ask any questions. 40 years later, women outnumbered men 3 to 1
at the sixth Democratic presidential debate of this political season. Co-anchors and managing editors of PBS
Newshour, Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff, made history yesterday as the first
anchor team comprised only of women to moderate a Democratic presidential
debate. This is the second
history-making accomplishment for Ifill and Woodruff, who became the first
female co-anchor team on a U.S. broadcast network in 2013. Fox Business Network’s Sandra Smith and Trish
Regan co-anchored the earlier undercard Republican presidential debate a month
prior to Ifill and Woodruff. A boost in
women moderators followed a 2012 petition to the Commission on Presidential
Debates. Started by Emma Axelrod, Elena
Tsemberis and Sammi Siegel, the petition demanding a woman moderate one of the
presidential debates gathered 122,339 signatures.
Women have also called
for candidates to discuss gender equality, including healthcare, family leave,
wage equity and abortion access. NARAL
Pro-Choice criticized previous moderators for ignoring women’s reproductive
rights during debates, starting the #AskAboutAbortion hashtag to urge Ifill and
Woodruff to address the hot-button topic.
The moderators shied away from reproductive health, however, focusing on
women’s waning support for Clinton.
NARAL and other pro-choice groups will continue the fight. NARAL president Ilyse Hogue tweeted
post-debate, “Asking abt support of women is NOT the same as laying out plans 2
expand abortion access. Still need 2
@AskAboutAbortion.”
--Kathleen Melendy, MWPC Intern
Friday, January 29, 2016
One Step Closer to Closing the Wage Gap!
sponsored by Senator Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) and Senator Patricia Jehlen (D-Somerville).
While Massachusetts boasted the nation’s first pay equity law over 70 years ago, MA women
continue to make, on average, 82 cents to every dollar made by men. While this percentage is
slightly higher than the national average of 79 cents, MA women lost $11,152 to the wage gap in
2014 according to the American Association of University Women
(http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2012/12/10/massachusetts-women-forefront-
pay-gap/GgRg7bLVbAWMKqCpae3trK/story.html). Women of color are even worse off, with
Black women making 64 cents and Hispanic women 54 cents to every white man’s dollar
(http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0882775.html). At-Large Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu
illuminated the devastating effects of pay inequality to the Dorchester Reporter. Citing the
Boston Redevelopment Authority’s 2015 report, Councilor Wu noted that women-headed
households make up 35.5% of family households in Boston, yet 64.3% of households living in
poverty (http://www.dotnews.com/2016/pay-equity-bill-ready-debate-senate).
The pay equity bill makes three key changes to current business practices. First, employers may
no longer ask applicants to disclose their salaries from previous jobs, a tactic which
disadvantages women as they tend to make less than men and wrongly implies a lower quality of
work in a previous position. Secondly, the bill intentionally defines “comparable work” as work
“similar in content” that requires “similar skill, effort and responsibility and is performed under
similar working conditions” (http://www.dotnews.com/2016/pay-equity-bill-ready-debate-
senate). Thirdly, employees may discuss their salaries without fear of termination and/or
retaliation from their employer if they file a complaint regarding pay inequity.
In combination with greater transparency and harsher penalties for discrimination on the basis of
gender, pay equity advocates appear optimistic about this bill. “This legislation takes important
steps to encourage awareness, facilitate conversation, and ultimately, ensure equality,” said State
Treasurer Deb Goldberg. “Equal pay is not a partisan issue, nor solely a women’s issue. It is a
family issue, and it affects the economic health and well-being of our entire state”
(http://www.therainbowtimesmass.com/2016/01/28/mass-senate-passes-pay-equity-bill-state-
treasurer-goldberg-support-reactions/). Sponsor Senator Spilka remarked, “When women thrive,
businesses, communities and the Commonwealth as a whole thrive”
(http://www.massnow.org/2015/new-equal-pay-coalition-files-comprehensive-pay-equity-
legislation).
Chairwoman Spilka and Sen. Jehlen pushed for this bill with the strong backing of women’s-
centered organizations committed to ending income disparities, including the Equal Pay
Coalition initiated by Massachusetts Chapter of the National Organization for Women (Mass
NOW), the Women’s Bar Association (WBA), the Mass Commission on the Status of Women
(MCSW) and the Massachusetts Employment Lawyers Association. The bill now moves to the House of Representatives under the sponsorship of Rep. Jay Livingstone (D-Boston) and Rep. Ellen Story (D-Amherst).
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