(C) Florida Phoenix This story was originally published by Florida Phoenix and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . In 2024, the wage gap between men and women — including in FL — is stagnant or widening • Florida Phoenix [1] ['Barrington Salmon', 'More From Author', 'March'] Date: 2024-03-22 In 2024, most American women go to work, put in their hours, deal with a bunch of sexist crap and on payday receive a considerably lighter paycheck than men who perform the same tasks. Why? Because of centuries-old wage and salary disparities that have dogged women for generations. Currently, this wage gap is wide and getting wider. Sadly, the gap hasn’t closed in any significant fashion for the past 30 years and an assortment of reports and studies show that at the current rate, women will not reach pay equity with white men until 2038, 2144 or 2153, depending on the U.S. state. For every dollar that white, non-Hispanic men make, women working full time earn between 82 to 84 cents. Yet this data point is more complex because in 2022, Black women earn 67 cents for every dollar earned by white men but the wage gap widens to 65 cents on the dollar for Black women who hold doctorate degrees compared to white men with the same education. According to analysis from the National Women’s Law Center, this gap translates to a loss of $53,334 a year, and more than $2.1 million over the course of an African-American woman’s 40-year career. More generally, over their work lives, Black women without doctorates stand to lose between $800,000 and $1 million because of these gender disparities. July 27 is Black Women’s Equal Pay Day — marking how far into any given year Black women must work to be paid what white, non-Hispanic men were paid last year alone. The wage gap costs Black women $1,891 per month, $22,692 per year, and $907,680 over a 40-year career. The disparities in wages and salaries are at a whole other level for Black women. Larger numbers of Black women are earning more doctoral degrees than ever before, as illustrated by the 30% increase in the number of Black women doctoral recipients in 2019 versus 2010, according to the National Science Foundation. But that has also come at a cost. The National Women’s Law Center said while more Black women getting higher degrees is positive, there may also be a financial setback for African American women receiving higher degrees because they are also burdened with outsized student loans since they’re in school longer. Meanwhile, Latinas working full-time were paid approximately 57 cents for every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men and when part-time workers are included in the comparison, Latinas only made 52 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men in 2022. In the Free State of Florida, women don’t fare much better. Florida ranks in the bottom third as it relates to the gender wage gap. A 2022 Employment and Earning index from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), Florida earned a D+ and ranked 44th on women’s labor force participation rate. With regards to reproductive rights, IWPR’s 2022 Reproductive Rights Index ranked Florida 22nd in the nation and gave the Sunshine State a C+ grade due to its many restrictions on abortion access and other reproductive rights implemented by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican legislative majority. IWPR officials said in its 2021 IWPR Employment and Earnings Index, which measures the economic standing of women across all 50 states, Florida could better deliver for women — and for all residents of the state — by expanding access to abortion and other reproductive healthcare. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 global pandemic also had a deleterious effort on women’s fortunes. In a 2023 commentary from Fortune.com, Katica Roy, the CEO of Pipeline, wrote that “we often forget to mention how the pandemic has obliterated decades of progress toward gender equity, thus draining $3.1 trillion from our economy … “Women’s labor force participation dropped to 57.8% in November, and there are still 1.8 million women missing from the labor force since the start of the pandemic …the gender pay gap widened on average by five cents due to the pandemic, Roy wrote. And “prior to the pandemic, gender pay equity represented a $512 billion opportunity for the U.S. economy. At the time, closing the gender pay equity gap would have lifted 50% more working women out of poverty, which would have been a boon for the 70% of the U.S. economy derived from consumer spending and the taxpayers who foot the bill for social welfare recipients.” The cost to women and their families is considerable. One 2022 study found that Florida’s wage gap costs women nearly $17 billion a year. Another pinned the wage gap loss for women across the United States at more than $500 billion a year. Anyone with half a brain would recognize that America benefits in countless ways if social, economic, gender and racial barriers against women, African Americans and members of marginalized communities are pulled down and allowed to blow away in the wind. But mainstream America has opted to ignore and not seriously consider, look at or attempt to irreversibly remove these thorny and seemingly intractable problems. As we celebrate Women’s History Month and the 2024 edition of Equal Pay Day, it feels a lot like Groundhog Day with politicians, corporate honchos and others with the power to balance the scales offering platitudes and banalities instead of correcting an egregious wrong. But there is a universe of solutions available if politicians, powerbrokers, policymakers, the corporate elite, women and the public really seek fundamental and far-reaching change. These include: women asking for higher staring salaries and negotiating when offered a job; bumping up the minimum wage to lift up those women bunched in the lowest paying jobs; introducing or strengthening salary transparency laws; and having pay equity audits. In the fall of 2023, for example, the Miami Herald reported that “Florida International University has been accused of gender pay discrimination against 163 women. While the Miami-based public university said it disagreed with the findings, it will pay $575,000 in back pay and interest to settle the allegation. That works out to $3,527.61 for each woman that the U.S. Department of Labor said was shorted on pay.” Other solutions include creating ways for women to move up into leadership and senior positions in companies and organizations; providing high-quality, affordable and accessible childcare; improving gender, racial, and ethnic equity by elevating women and women of color in leadership positions; promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and prioritizing accessibility in hiring across federal and corporate workforces. Lastly, businesses must support paid and broaden family and medical leave, paid sick leave, workplace flexibility, overtime protections, and predictable scheduling and expand women’s access to capital by multiplying resources and support for women entrepreneurs. Ensuring, advancing and protecting women’s rights is a moral imperative and a central tenet of basic human dignity. And reversing wage and salary disparities would irrefutably strengthen the country. In the name of fairness, Americans should toss away the type of widespread reductive reasoning that each of us is competing for a shrinking piece of the proverbial pie. Achieving pay equity is not some type of hollow, irrational zero-sum game where whatever gains women earn means less for men. At the end of the day, when women – half of America’s population – thrive, families blossom, economies prosper and communities across the nation thrive as well. [END] --- [1] Url: https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/03/22/in-2024-the-wage-gap-between-men-and-women-including-in-fl-is-stagnant-or-widening/ Published and (C) by Florida Phoenix Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/floridaphoenix/