Sunday, October 3, 2010
Working women vs working men
According to the Government Accountability Offices report that came out on Tuesday, the number of women in management positions grew by only one percentage point in seven years. In 2000 women held 39% of management jobs and now women only hold 40% and according to experts, the lack of women in management positions has an impact on profits. The data is obtained from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey and shows that the retail industry had the largest gap between the number of women in managerial(with 36%) and non management jobs(with 51%). Although people might not realize it, but men still make more than women do for the same job. Unfortunately women only get paid 81 cents for every dollar that men make, and when added up, makes a huge difference. In 2009, President Obama tried to change that when he signed The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which is a good start. This allows workers that are receiving unequal pay the right to sue within 180 days of their most recent paycheck. The top 10 companies that have he most female employees all relate to hospitals, medical centers or health care. The only exception is the Build-a-bear workshop which has 86% of females working at their company.
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I'm not sure if it's completely accurate to say, but I'm fairly sure it's fair to say: the glass ceiling has STILL yet to be broken. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made her own famous statement about this metaphorical ceiling after she lost the nomination for presidential candidate, and although she made giant leaps and bounds for the women in society, there obviously is a lot that needs to be done.
At first I was interested in the fact that women hold higher positions in hospitals, health care, etc., because these fields have always been and still are areas of high respect and prestige, but then I realized that these areas are all related to the stereotypically-perceived roles of women in society.
I don't really know how much good the new act does, because won't that put whichever woman who decides to fight for equal pay in danger of being fired? What about her co-workers who might think she's too greedy? Maybe this speculation is too conformity-like and the problem is that many people think the same way that I do.
And while it's very funny that 86% of women work at Build-A-Bear (my friend actually asked for an application this summer- you have to be 18 or older to work there), women have been gaining equality in the eyes of society, if not the pocketbooks. 1% in 10 years is just ridiculous, and then there's the other part: representation in Congress, but I'll let someone else comment on that.
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