International Women's Day: Where Does the U.S. Rank in Gender Equality for Women Workers?

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Global-Action/International-Women-s-Day-Where-Does-the-U.S.-Rank-in-Gender-Equality-for-Women-Workers

03/08/2014 Liz Shuler




In the United States, a woman makes only 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. The majority of minimum wage and tipped workers are women. Nearly 40 million workers don’t have a single paid sick day. And here’s just one more incredible stat about women in our country: The United States has paid maternity and parental benefits similar to Swaziland, Lesotho and Papua New Guinea. That is to say, zilch.

Today, as we celebrate International Women’s Day, I can’t help but think of inequality and all the work we have to do for women workers. Yes, we’ve made strides and we should celebrate those, but when it comes to basic necessities for women to make a living for themselves and their families, we are falling short. The United States ranks 23rd globally in gender equality. We’re also ranked 17th among 22 industrialized countries in terms of labor force participation for women (we were sixth in the ’90s.) And we’re supposed to be a nation that leads on fairness and opportunity.

Considering women are the sole or primary breadwinners in 40% of America’s families, this should concern everyone. Pay and access to benefits are even more unequal for women of color, who make up a disproportionate share of low-wage workers.

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Despite the challenges we face, we do know there are solutions: raising wages, improving working standards and building worker power through collective action. In the United States, 6.5 million women have a voice on the job through union membership. Women in unions are more likely to have access to health care, pensions and paid sick and family leave, and our goal is for every worker to have these basic benefits.

FULL story at link.