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Dear
Alice,
Hmmm,
where should I start? If you
read through the Q & A's posted
under "work" at Ask Amy, you
will read many personal testimonies
to how individual women are
being held back in the work
place.
In
general, there are a few ways
that women are held back. For
instance--pay. On average, women
make only 76 cents for every
$1 earned by men. This is an
average and goes down to 50
cents for Latinas. This means
that women and men work the
same, but don't get paid the
same.
A
further hindrance to women in
the workforce is that they remain
the primary care givers for
children, yet the workplace
isn't a child friendly place.
Most workplaces are required
to offer parental leave--which
really means maternal leave,
but they aren't required to
pay for this leave. Therefore,
women who have children have
to take time away from their
jobs--and they aren't paid for
that time.
There
are still few women who are
allowed to "rise to the top"
of certain businesses--and too
many women who are burdened
by long hours and low wage jobs.
So in order to make the workplace
equal you also have to equalize
different jobs. For instance,
jobs that are primarily female
tend to be low wage jobs, while
jobs that are male tend to be
higher wage--even though each
requires the same skills/trainings.
For instance, nursing compared
to physicians assistants; bookkeeping
compared to accounting.
You can get specific stats
at the Dept.
of Labor Women's Bureau.
Good
Luck,
Amy
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