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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow to End 'Women's Work'
New York TimesLast week, as Americans were obsessing over the results of the presidential election, a New Zealand law aimed at eliminating pay discrimination against women in female-dominated occupations went into effect. The bill, which takes an approach known as pay equity, provides a road map for addressing the seemingly intractable gender pay gap.
Unlike equal pay the concept most often used to address gender pay disparities in the United States the concept of pay equity doesnt just demand equal pay for women doing the same work as men, in the same positions. Such efforts, while worthwhile, ignore the role of occupational segregation in keeping womens pay down: There are some jobs done mostly by women and others that are still largely the province of men. The latter are typically better paid.
But if the coronavirus has taught us anything, it is that what has traditionally been womens work caring, cleaning, the provision of food can no longer be taken for granted. Its not the bankers and the hedge fund managers and the highest paid people upon whose services weve come to rely, said Amy Ross, former national organizer for New Zealands Public Service Association union. Its our supermarket workers, its our cleaners, its our nurses and theyre all women!
It has also taught us how poorly these jobs are compensated. Over half of workers designated essential in the United States are women; their jobs are typically paid well below the median hourly wage of a little over $19 an hour. (Median hourly pay for cashiers is just $11.37; for child care workers its $11.65; health support workers such as home health aides and orderlies make $12.68.
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Unlike equal pay the concept most often used to address gender pay disparities in the United States the concept of pay equity doesnt just demand equal pay for women doing the same work as men, in the same positions. Such efforts, while worthwhile, ignore the role of occupational segregation in keeping womens pay down: There are some jobs done mostly by women and others that are still largely the province of men. The latter are typically better paid.
But if the coronavirus has taught us anything, it is that what has traditionally been womens work caring, cleaning, the provision of food can no longer be taken for granted. Its not the bankers and the hedge fund managers and the highest paid people upon whose services weve come to rely, said Amy Ross, former national organizer for New Zealands Public Service Association union. Its our supermarket workers, its our cleaners, its our nurses and theyre all women!
It has also taught us how poorly these jobs are compensated. Over half of workers designated essential in the United States are women; their jobs are typically paid well below the median hourly wage of a little over $19 an hour. (Median hourly pay for cashiers is just $11.37; for child care workers its $11.65; health support workers such as home health aides and orderlies make $12.68.
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How to End 'Women's Work' (Original Post)
brooklynite
Nov 2020
OP
BComplex
(8,042 posts)1. Hmm. Treating women as if they have value!? What a NOVEL idea.
It's about damn time!!! YAY for New Zealand!!!
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,848 posts)2. And it's not as though the value of "women's work" hasn't been
well understood for decades.
The Women's Room, by Marilyn French talks about it explicitly.