R A I S I N G W O M E N ’ S P A YAn Agenda for Equity

W O M E N E M P LO Y E D I N S T I T U T E

May 2000

W O M E N E M P LO Y E D I N S T I T U T E

Women Employed, founded in 1973, is a mem-bership organization of women at all employ-ment levels committed to expanding opportuni-ties for women and girls through service, educa-tion and advocacy. With its affiliate, theWomen Employed Institute, the organization isthe nation’s foremost grassroots advocate foreffective equal opportunity programs, a leadingpromoter of state and local workforce develop-ment and welfare reform policies leading to self-sufficiency, an innovator in developing pro-grams to alleviate female poverty, and a sourceof assistance for thousands of women seekingbetter opportunities.

Raising Women’s Pay: An Agenda for Equity wasprepared by Women Employed’s EqualEmployment Committee and staff membersDonna Cavato, Melissa Josephs, Nancy Kreiter,Anne Ladky and Nina McGuffin.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of theFord Foundation for our work to improveenforcement of equal opportunity laws and pro-mote fair workplace practices.

W O M E N E M P LO Y E D I N S T I T U T E

111 North Wabash, Suite 1300Chicago, Illinois 60602Phone 312/782-3902 Fax 312/782-5249www.womenemployed.org

COPYRIGHT © 2000 WOMEN EMPLOYED INSTITUTE

Women are deeply concerned about the issue ofpay discrimination. Survey after survey indicateshat unequal pay ranks at the top of women’soncerns about their work. To resolve the prob-em, women support stronger enforcement ofqual pay laws; they also want informationbout salary rates as well as opportunities to

develop their negotiating skills. But they aren’ture what else will help to reduce pay discrimi-

nation. The general public believes that timewill take care of pay differentials, despite theact that women’s increased levels of educationnd experience have not closed the pay gap with

men.Women Employed has compiled this report

o inform policymakers and the public aboutoncrete solutions to the problem of unequal

pay. It is also an invitation—to corporate lead-rs, public policymakers, working women andhe families who depend on them—to joinogether in a comprehensive effort to eliminate

pay discrimination.Raising Women’s Pay: An Agenda for Equity is

one component of Women Employed’s RaisingWomen’s Pay Campaign, which is comprised ofpublic education, organizing, and advocacytrategies aimed at bringing new energy andttention to the unfinished business of ensuringquitable pay for women. The goals of the cam-

paign are to:✦ strengthen equal pay laws and improve

enforcement;✦ increase women’s participation in higher-

paying male-dominated occupations throughaffirmative action and greater access to edu-cation and training;

✦ improve corporate compensation practicesby increasing voluntary pay reviews andreducing glass ceiling barriers;

✦ reduce the tax burden on low-wage workers,✦ raise and index the minimum wage;✦ promote unionization as a strategy for rais-

ing women’s pay and ensuring equity; and✦ encourage employers to fairly pro-rate pay

and benefits for part-time and temporaryworkers.

Our immediate priorities are to ensure theimplementation of new initiatives that willrequire employers to provide salary data as partof their equal opportunity reporting practices,promote voluntary corporate practices to reducepay disparities based on gender, increase aware-ness of higher-paying jobs among women andgirls, promote greater access to education andtraining leading to those jobs, and provide indi-vidual women with information and strategiesthey can use to improve their pay.

Our Raising Women’s Pay Campaign isgrounded in the experience Women Employedhas gained over nearly three decades of advoca-cy for fair pay. We have worked with thousandsof individual women experiencing pay discrimi-nation, offering them information and support,and helping them develop their own strategiesfor change. Most recently, in response torequests from our members, we published theGuide to Salary and Wage Information on theInternet, and sponsored workshops led byskilled negotiators. We have developed method-ologies for analyzing compensation systems andpractices that have been used in successful legaland administrative challenges to unequal pay.We have worked with employers and unions toconduct job evaluation studies, analyze com-pensation systems, and make recommendationsto promote equity. At the federal level, we arethe leading advocate for effective enforcementof equal pay requirements affecting womenfrom the entry level to the glass ceiling. Wehave educated the public and policymakersthrough research and publications examiningoccupational segregation and the wage gap. Allof these efforts have contributed to the progresswomen have made in improving their pay andopportunities.

We want to acknowledge the work of WomenEmployed’s Equal Employment Committee,which compiled this report based on research,discussions with experts, and dialogue withwomen at all employment levels. The recom-mendations focus on systemic changes that theyfelt would make the greatest impact in raisingwomen’s pay. We appreciate both the contribu-

R A I S I N G W O M E N ’ S PAY C A M PA I G N

tions of committee members and the expertsthey consulted. We also want to acknowledgethe many organizations that came together inChicago on Equal Pay Day 1999 to bringrenewed public attention to the problem of paydiscrimination and pledged to work together toeliminate it.

We know that time alone will not solve theproblem of unequal pay for women. Too manywomen and their families are paying a highprice for our tolerance of practices resulting

from outmoded and discriminatory attitudes.We can and must do more to address this prob-lem. We extend an invitation to all our readersto join us in making a new commitment to eco-nomic justice for women.

Suzy Bangs, Chair, Equal Employment Committee

Sarah Bornstein, Chair, Women Employed

I N T R O D U C T I O N 2

T H E P R O B L E M Unequal Pay for Equal Work 6

S T R AT E G I E S F O R C H A N G EEmployment Practices: Encourage employers to create policies that lead to fair payAdministrative Practices and Legislation: Improve enforcement ofregulations and laws requiring equal pay

T H E P R O B L E M Occupational Segregation: The Majority of Working Women are Clustered in Low-Paying Jobs 10

S T R AT E G I E S F O R C H A N G EEmployment Practices: Adopt proven methods and practices that aim to ensurebetter representation of womenAdministrative Practices and Legislation: Support policies that provide womenwith the opportunity for education, training, and career development

T H E P R O B L E M Glass Ceiling: Persistent Barriers to Pay Equity and Mobility 12

S T R AT E G I E S F O R C H A N G EEmployment Practices: Create effective policies and programs to successfullyrecruit and promote women and people of colorAdministrative Practices and Legislation: Strengthen enforcement of anti-discrimination laws and affirmative action regulations

T H E P R O B L E M Millions of Families are Poor Despite Full-Time Work 14

S T R AT E G I E S F O R C H A N G EEmployment Practices: Assess the adequacy of current wage ratesAdministrative Practices and Legislation: Support laws that increase wagesand benefits for low-income working adults

T H E P R O B L E M Many Temporary and Part-Time Workers Lack Fair Pay and Access to Benefits 17

S T R AT E G I E S F O R C H A N G EEmployment Practices: Promote best practices by employers and unionsAdministrative Practices and Legislation: Establish laws that prohibitwage and benefit discrimination against temporary and part-time workers

C O N C L U S I O N 19

F O O T N O T E S 20

G LO S S A R Y 21

TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

Raising Women’s Pay: An Agenda for Equity

Seventy percent of womenearn less than $35,000 peryear, compared to less thanfifty percent of men.3 Almosteleven million women work-ers earn less than $15,000per year.4

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Despite the many improvements in women’seconomic status and opportunities over the pastthirty years, pay discrimination is still a fact oflife for far too many women. With a record 64million women in the workforce, pay discrimi-nation affects the majority of American families.

Pay discrimination is firmly rooted in our his-tory. Differentials based on gender were anaccepted fixture of public policy and privatesector practice, justified by the notion that menwere the breadwinners and women worked onlyfor “pin money.” Even when women replacedmen in wartime industrial jobs, they earned justhalf of what their male counterparts did. In thelate 1940’s, to prevent employers from under-cutting men’s wages by hiring women and pay-ing them less, unions began to win equal pay

clauses in collective bargaining agreements.However, paying women lower wages than menfor the same work was not outlawed by the fed-eral government until the passage of the EqualPay Act in 1963. Although women have bene-fited from reforms brought about by the EqualPay Act and by Title VII of the Civil Rights Actof 1964, which outlaws sex discrimination inemployment, pay discrimination persists.

Pay discrimination is not just a women’sproblem—it is a problem for families. Nearlytwo-thirds of working women report that theyprovide about half or more of their family’sincome.1 Nearly one in five U.S. families isheaded by a single woman.2

And the effects of low pay stretch into thefuture, as lower lifetime earnings reduce socialsecurity and access to pension plans. Only 32percent of current female retirees receive a pen-sion, compared to 55 percent of men; and themedian pension benefit received by new femaleretirees is less than half that of men.5

The wages of minority women working full-time are just 63.7 percent of the wages of allfull-time working men.9 Minority women earnalmost eighty percent of what white womenearn.10 African American and white womenachieved near parity in wages by the mid1970’s, but since then the race-based wage gapbetween them has widened.11

Why Do Women Earn Less than Men?

Is it Education and Experience?In the debate about the causes of pay disparitiesbetween women and men generally, some con-tend that differences in “labor market capital”are to blame; that is women bring less educa-tion and experience to the labor market andtherefore receive lower pay. In fact, women havedramatically increased their educational attain-ment over the past thirty-five years and nowsurpass the number of men attaining bachelor’sand advanced degrees.12 However, college-edu-cated women earned $13,788 less than college-

I N T R O D U C T I O N

TA B L E 1 Women Earn Less than Men Despite Equivalent Education

Median Annual Income of Full-time Workers 25 Years and Overby Educational Attainment and Gender

Level of Education Women’s Median Men’s Median DifferenceEarnings Earnings in Dollars

ElementaryLess than 9th grade $14,467 $19,380 $4,913

High School9th to 12th grade (no diploma) $16,487 $23,958 $7,476Graduate (including GED) $22,780 $31,477 $8,697

CollegeSome college, no degree $27,420 $36,934 $9,514Associate degree $29,924 $40,274 $10,350Bachelor’s degree $36,559 $51,405 $14,846Master’s degree $45,283 $62,244 $16,961Doctorate degree $57,796 $75,078 $17,282

Source: “Money Income in the United States: 1998,” Current Population Reports, ConsumerIncome, U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, Bureau ofthe Census.

Today, women working full-time year-round earn 73 cents on average for everydollar earned by men.6 This gap has nar-rowed substantially over the past twentyyears (it was 63 cents in 1979) as aresult of both improvements in women’searnings and periods of declining wagesfor men.7 Although women have undeni-ably made progress during this period,falling real wages for men explain about65 percent of the closing of the genderwage gap between 1979 and 1989; corre-spondingly, only 35 percent was due toimprovements in women’s wages.8 So,commonly cited “wage gap” figuresoverestimate the progress women havemade in achieving greater parity withmen, despite their growing representa-tion in higher-paying jobs.

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ducated white men.13 Even among recent col-ege graduates, women earn 15.7 percent lesshan men.14 College-educated African American

women earn $185 less than white male highchool graduates.15 Even at similar levels of edu-ational attainment, women earn less than men.

See Table 1.Women’s increased participation in the labor

orce has also erased experiential differences. In1975, 37.5 million women were working, com-pared to 63 million women in 1997.16 However,women gain only about 30 cents per hour forive additional years of work experience, while

white men gained an additional $1.20 per houror the same number of years of work experi-nce.17 Increased occupational representation of

women over a decade (1980–1990) did notonsistently result in appreciable narrowing ofhe wage gap.18 Managers and sales supervisors

were the only traditionally male occupationsthat experienced large gains in female employ-ment, and these occupations have among thewidest wage gaps.19

Is it Time Off for Childrearing?The other frequently cited explanation for themale-female pay gap is that women take timeout of the labor force to raise children, thus los-ing opportunities for better pay and advance-ment. The amount of time that women spendout of the labor force while their children areyoung has actually declined significantly overthe last thirty years. Today, in 64 percent ofmarried couples, both parents are working.20

Sixty-one percent of women with childrenunder the age of two are working, and 78 per-cent of all mothers with school-age childrenwork.21

TA B L E 2 Women Earn Less in Every Occupational Category

Median Annual Income of Full-time Workers Age 15 Years and Overby Occupational Category and Gender

Occupational Category Women’s Men’s PercentageMedian Median of Women’sEarnings Earnings Earnings to

Men’s

Executives, administrators, managers $34,755 $51,351 67.7%Professional specialty $36,261 $51,654 70.2%Technical and related support $27,849 $40,546 68.7%Sales $23,197 $37,248 62.3%Administrative support, incl. Clerical $23,835 $31,153 76.5%Precision production, craft repair $23,907 $31,631 75.6%Machine operators, assemblers, inspectors $19,015 $27,890 68.2%Handlers, equipment cleaners, laborers $16,550 $21,871 75.7%Service workers $15,647 $22,515 69.5%

Source: “Money Income in the United States: 1998,” Current Population Reports, Consumer Income, U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, Bureau of the Census

The press continues to report substantialsettlements in cases where womendemonstrated that they were being paidless in the same job categories than menat such companies as Home Depot,Publix Supermarkets, State FarmInsurance and United Parcel Service.Kodak voluntarily reviewed its pay prac-tices and paid $10 million to 2,000underpaid women and minority factoryworkers. Other examples of settlementsthat cover sex and race claims includeBoeing’s $4.5 million in back pay andraises for 4,400 women and 1,000minority workers nationwide, andCoreStates Financial Corp.’s settlementrequiring the company to award backpay and make salary adjustments forwomen and minorities.

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The Real Causes of Pay Disparitiesbetween Women and Men

The problem of low pay for women has twomain causes: unequal pay for the same work orwork that is substantially similar in skill andresponsibility levels, and low pay for jobs tradi-tionally held by women.

Unequal PayDespite gains in education and employmentexperience, women continue to earn less thanmen doing the same work in nearly every occu-pational category—from entry-level clericalpositions to management. See Table 2. The mostclear-cut form of pay discrimination—unequalpay for the same work—is a major contributorto pay disparities, despite advances wonthrough enforcement of equal pay laws and reg-ulations.

As women have moved up the career ladderin certain industries, more subtle and systemicexamples of this problem have been exposed. Inlawsuits against brokerage houses for example,women have documented pay discriminationstemming from assignment of more lucrative

work and sales territories to male brokers,denial of promotions, supervisors who discrimi-nate against pregnant women based on a sexistnotion of the work they can perform, and per-formance rewards targeted toward men thatinclude ties, cuff links and company-sponsoredtrips to strip clubs.

Occupational Segregation and Low PayDespite the significant progress women havemade entering previously male-dominated fieldssuch as law, medicine, and business, the majori-ty of women workers continue to work in low-paying female-dominated jobs. More than fortypercent of women working full-time areemployed in the traditionally female clerical orservice occupations.22 This pattern is based onlong-held notions of what jobs are “appropriate”for women. Such attitudes affect the practices ofschools, training programs, and employers, lim-iting women’s views of their occupational choic-es and creating barriers to women’s entry intohigher-paying traditionally male fields.“Women’s” jobs are likely to pay less than male-dominated jobs, even when greater skill,responsibility or more education is required for

TA B L E 3

Median Weekly Earnings (MWE) of Women and Men in Traditional and Non-Traditional Jobs for Women

Traditional Jobs for Women % Female MWE Non-Traditional Jobs for Women % Female MWE

Child Care Worker 97% $204 Carpenters 1.2% $490Waitress 78% $300 Motor vehicle 24.4% $595

operator supervisorsBookkeeper 93% $428 Electronic technician 17% $642Secretary 98% $431 Police and Detectives 16.3% $646

Source: Employment and Earnings 1999, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics

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he female-dominated occupations.The pattern of occupational segregation has

persisted even as women’s overall opportunitieshave expanded. For example, women have sub-tantially increased their mobility in corpora-ions, moving into jobs of greater responsibilitynd higher pay. However, they often reach aevel beyond which women are not promoted—he “glass ceiling.” The glass ceiling is largely a

product of stereotypical attitudes about theppropriateness of high-level jobs for women.n addition, women are often channeled intond remain in “staff ” functions such as humanesources, public relations, and communica-ions, and are less likely to move into “line”

positions in operations, manufacturing, salesnd marketing, and other areas more related tohe bottom line corporate performance. This

kind of segregation limits women’s ability tomove into top jobs and depresses their pay,ince line managers usually earn more than staff

managers.Still, a substantial part of the gender gap in

wages is not the result of these occupationalpatterns. In a large-scale study (637,718 work-rs at 32,931 companies representing the entirerray of industries, occupations and locations inhe U.S.), the National Bureau of Economic

Research concluded that while a sizable portionof the gender wage gap is attributable to theact that women are over-represented in theowest paying jobs in the labor market (occupa-ional segregation) one-quarter to one-half of the

wage gap remains attributable to gender alone.23

Given the long history of bias against womenn the labor market and educational institutionsnd entrenched attitudes about women’s roles,

we expect that women will be the majority ofow-wage workers for the foreseeable future.

Women are also likely to be the majority of thegrowing number of temporary and contingentworkers. So in addition to addressing the prob-lems of unequal pay and occupational segrega-tion, public and private sector action will beneeded to deal with the consequences—persis-tent low pay for women.

This report describes specific aspects of payinequities women face and makes recommenda-tions for change.

TA B L E 4

Median Weekly Earnings by Gender in 10 Leading Occupations for Women, 1998

Occupations Women’s Men’s Median Weekly Median WeeklyEarnings Earnings

Secretaries $430 ------Managers, real estate $518 $638Bookkeepers, accounting/auditing clerks $426 $455Cashiers $259 $302Registered nurses $734 $774Waiters and waitresses $282 $343Elementary school teachers $677 $749Nursing aides, orderlies, attendants $308 $330Sales workers, other commodities $287 $388Sales supervisors and proprietors $449 $649

Medians are not shown where the base is less than 50,000 workers. Such cases are indicated bydashes-----.n.e.c. = not elsewhere classified.Source: Employment and Earnings 1999, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Equal Pay Act prohibits dis-crimination in pay between men andwomen for similar jobs.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Actprohibits discrimination in employmentpractices based on sex, race, color,national origin or religion.

Executive Order 11246 prohibitsfederal contractors from discriminatingbased on sex, race, color, national originor religion.

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Over the last 25 years, enforcement of theEqual Pay Act (EPA) of 1963, Title VII of theCivil Rights Act of 1964, and Executive Order11246, as amended, has reduced pay discrimi-nation against women. Despite problems causedby narrow interpretations of these laws, theyhave clearly made the practice of paying womenless than men for the same work far less com-mon.

However, significant work remains to be doneto eliminate this problem. The two federalagencies responsible for enforcing equal payrequirements for women and racial minoritiesare the Equal Employment OpportunityCommission (EEOC) and the Office of FederalContract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) ofthe U.S. Department of Labor. The EEOChandles Equal Pay Act and Title VII chargesfiled by individuals; the OFCCP enforcesExecutive Order 11246, attacking wage dis-crimination through its reviews of the equalopportunity practices of employers that are fed-eral contractors.

The effectiveness of both agencies in address-ing equal pay claims has been inconsistent overthe years because of inadequate funding and aneed for regulatory reform.24 In the 1990’s, theEEOC was successful in litigating or obtainingsettlements in various high-profile cases thatchallenged such issues as sexual harassment, racediscrimination, glass ceiling barriers and preg-nancy rights. However, the Commission hasalmost no record of litigating Equal Pay Actcases.25 The OFCCP has been aggressive inattacking wage inequities it uncovers duringcompliance reviews. However, the agency’sefforts have been hampered by its inability tocollect the amount and type of informationfrom employers that it needs to adequatelyenforce equal pay requirements. Further, theOFCCP can only negotiate for punitive dam-ages (beyond back pay and salary adjustments)if charging parties file as a class; OFCCP is notallowed to negotiate for individual relief when ituncovers evidence of discrimination during itscompliance reviews of federal contractors.

The elimination of pay discrimination will

require greater voluntary efforts by employers,and more recognition for their successes in deal-ing with this challenge, stronger enforcement ofexisting regulations, new legislation andenforcement policies.

S T R AT E G I E S F O R C H A N G E

Employment Practices: Encourage employers to create policiesthat lead to fair pay Improving enforcement through the strengthen-ing of existing laws and the passage of new onesare not the only solutions for eradicating paydiscrimination in the workplace. Companiesshould also be encouraged to create policieswithin their organizations that will lead to fairpay. Recommendations for improving pay prac-tices within organizations include:

✦ Promote voluntary corporate payreviews The companies with the best trackrecords of hiring and promoting women areoften the ones with the best pay review prac-tices. In addition, these companies are usuallyless likely to expend resources litigating discrim-ination claims. A well-designed pay review usesstatistical analysis to uncover all instances ofpotential discrimination by identifying anyindividual or groups whose compensation is sig-nificantly out of pattern in comparison to oth-ers in the same salary grade and geographiclocation. In a time of record low unemploy-ment, companies that institute voluntary payreviews will attract and retain employees whovalue an equitable workplace.

✦ Identify and promote corporate prac-tices that increase pay and access to bene-fits as a strategy to reduce turnover, partic-ularly in low-wage jobs Many low-wage(often female-dominated) jobs such as hotelhousekeepers, child care workers, home healthaides, etc. experience tremendous turnover dueto low wages and limited access to benefits suchas healthcare, sick/vacation days, and retirement

T H E P R O B L E M

Unequal Pay for Equal Work

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plans. In the current tight labor market,mployees can choose to work for companieshat offer higher wages and benefits, particularlyhose offering job-based learning and skills

development that can lead to higher-wage jobs,deally within the organization. Increasing

wages and access to benefits has been a success-ul strategy for reducing turnover and improv-ng performance.

✦ Identify and eliminate pay patternsbased on the gender of those traditionallyholding particular positions by ensuringcomparable pay rates for jobs requiringcomparable skills, responsibilities, andqualifications Some union contracts andompensation review practices incorporate the

principle of comparable worth and can be usedo identify and correct unequal compensationn comparable jobs. These pay systems are based

on analysis of the level of skill, responsibility,nd qualifications required for a position. Anxample is the inequity between pay for parole

officers who are mostly men, and social workerswho are mostly women. Some unions have beenuccessful in finding and remedying instances of

unequal pay through compensation reviewsbased on comparable worth principles.

✦ Support incentives for businesses tomprove pay practices Passage of the federal

Paycheck Fairness Act would, among otherhings, establish a National Award for Pay

Equity in the Workplace and provide employerswith guidelines to evaluate job categories basedon objective criteria. This award and otherncentives will ensure that U.S. corporations

who have fair pay practices are acknowledgedor their efforts. In addition, public recognition

of equal pay practices provides an incentive forother employers to adopt them.

Administrative Practices and Legislation:mprove enforcement of regulations andaws requiring equal pay

There are several reasons to be optimistic aboutreating positive change through improvements

in enforcement. First, the Clinton administra-tion has recognized that equal pay is a pivotalissue for women. This has led to a large increasein the federal budget for enforcement of work-place anti-discrimination laws. The Presidenthas proposed a $27 million pay initiative to endwage discrimination ($10 million to the EEOCfor training and $17 million to the Departmentof Labor for nontraditional jobs outreach towomen.) Second, the chair of the EEOC, IdaCastro, has committed resources and leadershipto address wage discrimination. Third, theOFCCP is now requiring contractors to submitannual employment data, including wage data,to the OFCCP in an Equal Opportunity (EO)Survey, whether or not the agency intends toschedule a compliance review. This newapproach will encourage contractors to conductself-audits and undertake pro-active measures toensure nondiscrimination and pay equity intheir workplaces. It will also allow the agency totarget compliance reviews more effectively.

Equal pay laws are only as effective as theagencies that enforce them. The enforcementwork of the EEOC and the OFCCP should beimproved through increased funding, strength-ened regulations, and streamlined charge han-dling procedures and investigative techniques.Specific recommendations for strengthening theenforcement of equal pay laws include:

✦ Increase funding for the two majorenforcement agencies The EEOC has signifi-cant work to do in transforming itself into aneffective enforcement agency that handlescharges quickly and pursues strategic cases thatwill create systemic change. The Commission’srecord has improved during the Clinton admin-istration due to a redesign of the charge han-dling process, revisions in past policy directives,and a new focus on mediation.26 Congressapproved $37 million in new spending forFY1999, a significant increase over previousyears of fiscal neglect. This new funding hasallowed the EEOC to build on these innovativeprocesses, but more work remains to be done.Funding levels should be increased so that the

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EEOC can make litigation of Equal Pay Actviolations a priority, with a specific focus onsystemic litigation.

The OFCCP, under Department of LaborDeputy Assistant Secretary Shirley Wilcher, hasachieved significant regulatory reform. Thesereforms have led to tighter record-keepingrequirements and greater latitude in reviewingcontractors’ compliance with affirmative actionrequirements. However, the OFCCP conductsfewer than 4,000 audits per year out of a uni-verse of 100,000 establishments because theagency’s resources are inadequate. Increasedfunding will strengthen enforcement of equalpay laws by allowing the OFCCP to monitor alarger pool of federal contractors.

✦ Focus efforts on equal pay claims andsystemic discrimination Litigation of EqualPay Act cases should be a top priority for theEEOC. Enforcement efforts at both the EEOCand the OFCCP should focus on systemic wagediscrimination, ensuring that non-job-relatedcriteria are not allowed to justify pay disparitiesbetween men and women.

✦ Increase the coordination betweenEEOC and OFCCP to include damages asone of OFCCP’s approved remedies incompliance reviews In 1999, proposedchanges to a 1981 Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MOU) were approved, allow-ing OFCCP to act as EEOC’s agent to processand resolve complaints affecting women andminorities, since EEOC also enforces claimscovering these protected classes. This allowsOFCCP to negotiate for relief beyond back payand salary adjustment to include compensatoryand punitive damages allowed under Title VIIof the Civil Rights Act of 1964. However, theMOU only allows OFCCP to negotiate fordamages as EEOC’s agent when discriminationcharges are filed as a class action. Therefore,OFCCP needs the authority to act as EEOC’sagent when OFCCP uncovers evidence of dis-crimination during its compliance reviews offederal contractors. Giving OFCCP and EEOC

the same authority is a more efficient use ofresources because it decreases the duplication ofeffort between the two agencies.

✦ Require all federal contractors to sub-mit wage data annually Because OFCCP isable to audit only a fraction of federal contrac-tors (4,000 of 100,000) each year, better record-keeping and submission of data by contractorscan significantly improve the use of enforce-ment resources and promote voluntary compli-ance. The new EO Survey, which requiresemployers to submit annual employment data,including wage data, will allow the OFCCP totarget pay discrimination, as well as occupation-al segregation and other discriminatory prac-tices, without having to conduct an on-sitereview. The EO Survey will allow the OFCCPto spend resources on investigating those mostlikely to be in violation of equal pay require-ments, rather than relying on a random sampleof federal contractors. The EO Survey shouldbe sent to federal contractors annually.

✦ Pass the Paycheck Fairness Act The pro-posed federal Paycheck Fairness Act (PFA)would amend the Equal Pay Act to providecompensatory and punitive damages to womenwho are not paid equal wages for equal work. Inaddition, the PFA would provide other effectivetools for addressing pay discrimination by:27

✦ authorizing class action equal pay suits;✦ prohibiting employers from penalizing

employees who share salary informationwith their coworkers;

✦ requiring the EEOC to train its employeesto analyze wage discrimination;

✦ requiring the Department of Labor (DOL)to undertake research in the area of sex-based pay disparities;

✦ requiring the DOL to develop voluntaryguidelines to enable employers to evaluatejob categories based on objective criteria.

✦ Pass the Fair Pay Act The proposed fed-eral Fair Pay Act amends the Fair LaborStandards Act to prohibit discrimination in

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wages paid to employees in comparable jobswithin a workplace, based on a worker’s sex,ace or national origin. The Fair Pay Act

would:28

✦ prohibit companies from reducing wagesto achieve pay equity;

✦ require employers to preserve records onwage-setting practices and breakdowns bysex, race and national origin of employeeswithin positions, and file annual reportswith the EEOC;

✦ mandate the confidentiality of individualnames;

✦ provide retaliation protections for employ-ees inquiring about or assisting in investi-gations related to the Act;

✦ direct the EEOC to provide technicalassistance to employers and report toCongress on the Act’s implementation.

Women are Concentrated inLow-Paying JobsWomen make up 79.1 percent of clericalworkers and 65.4 percent of retail work-ers.29 These are often unstable jobs withlow pay, limited access to benefits suchas paid sick/vacation time and healthinsurance, and little opportunity foradvancement.

In contrast, women comprise only 17.7percent of managerial and technicalpositions combined. These are often thejobs with higher pay, more career mobil-ity, and access to benefits and compen-sation incentives ranging from healthinsurance and retirement plans to sign-ing bonuses and stock options.

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Despite the growing number of women in thelabor force and the substantial progress womenhave made since the early 1970’s, the majorityof working women continue to be segregated inlow-paying, female-dominated jobs. The clus-tering of women in traditionally female jobs isoften referred to as occupational segregation.Occupational segregation contributes to a siz-able portion of the wage gap (the differencebetween the average annual full-time earningsof women compared to men), and significantlycontributes to the number of working familiesin poverty.

The concentration of women in low-payingjobs is a major barrier to economic self-suffi-ciency. Unless occupational segregation isaddressed, women will continue to earn lessthan men and earn less money to support theirfamilies. The focus must be on ending the con-centration of women in the lowest-paying jobsin the economy and eliminating barriers towomen’s mobility into higher-paying jobs.

S T R AT E G I E S F O R C H A N G E

Employment Practices: Adopt provenmethods and practices that ensure bet-ter representation of women

✦ Identify and promote successful corpo-rate and union practices that identify jobcategories where women are underrepre-sented and develop programs to increasetheir representation in these areas Good corporate and union review practices canidentify specific job categories where women areover- or under-represented. The next step is todevelop practical strategies, (i.e., on-the jobtraining, mentoring, acquisition of new assign-ments), that will increase the representation ofwomen in previously under-represented areas.

✦ Support career awareness and careerexploration programs for girls Programsthat increase girls’ career awareness and allowthem to explore careers in high-wage fields

should be supported. Such efforts can includementoring, which is a proven strategy for help-ing girls learn about career options from womenin higher-wage nontraditional occupations;work site visits, which allow first-hand observa-tion of a workplace; and school-to-work programsthat are based in local schools and increase stu-dent knowledge of potential career options.

Administrative Practices and Legislation:Support policies that provide womenwith opportunities for education, train-ing, and career development

✦ Support legislation that would expandaccess to education and training opportu-nities leading to economic self-sufficiencyEducation and training is a proven strategy forbroadening career options and increasing wagesfor women. A woman with a bachelor’s degreeearns 57 percent more than a woman with ahigh school education ($32,481 v. $20,714).30

Women Employed’s agenda, Increasing Women’sEmployment Opportunities through Educationand Training, urges a statewide effort in Illinoisto expand educational and training opportuni-ties for women and girls. For additional infor-mation contact Women Employed.

✦ Disseminate information about careeroptions and education and training pro-grams leading to occupations paying fami-ly-supporting wages, including nontradi-tional fields for women, through publicagencies such as welfare offices and one-stop career centers To ensure that women,particularly those who are poor, have access to a wide range of employment options, careerdevelopment and job training services need tobe retooled to focus on high-wage jobs or entry-level jobs with career ladders rather than low-paying, entry-level positions with little or noopportunity for advancement. This may requireoutreach and education efforts to make womenaware of occupations that pay family-support-ing wages. The goal of publicly funded jobtraining and workforce development systems

T H E P R O B L E M

Occupational Segregation: The Majority of WorkingWomen are Clustered in Low-Paying Jobs

New Educational Options forWelfare RecipientsIn January of 1999, outgoing Governorof Illinois Jim Edgar acted on a recom-mendation of the Governor’s Commissionon the Status of Women and directed theIllinois Department of Human Services(IDHS) to allow welfare recipients toattend post-secondary education pro-grams without requiring that they alsowork and “stopping the clock” on theirlifetime limit on receipt of welfare assis-tance. Without this option, many work-ing welfare recipients would be limitedto low-paying, low-skilled jobs with littleopportunity to achieve self-sufficiency.

11

hould be to help participants become self-suffi-ient. In 1999, Illinois passed Know Your

Opportunities, a law requiring that welfare recip-ents be told about all of their education, train-ng, and employment options at various stages

of the welfare process so they can makenformed decisions about their individual career

paths. Information about this law should bedisseminated to recipients so that they are awareof their opportunities and oversight shouldoccur to ensure that recipients are informedbout their options.

✦ Support efforts to protect and expandaffirmative action and equal opportunityequirements at the state and federal levels

Affirmative action has been one of the mostffective tools in improving women’s economic

opportunities. Affirmative action does not meanpreferential treatment, quotas, or the hiring ofunqualified people-in fact, these activities arepecifically prohibited by affirmative action reg-

ulations.31 Rather, it is a tool that affords a fairnd equal opportunity to compete for qualifiedndividuals who might otherwise be excluded

because of prejudice. Once individuals get the

opportunity, they must prove their own meritfor jobs and promotions. The OFCCP shoulddirect enforcement efforts toward high-payingjobs, e.g., technical jobs, in which women areseverely under-represented.

✦ Support the Educating America’s GirlsAct, that aims to prepare girls for thefuture by promoting exposure to technolo-gy for girls The Educating America’s Girls Actof 1999 (Girls Act) bill would improve educa-tion for girls by reducing gender bias in tech-nology.32 As technology and computers areincreasingly being used in elementary schoolclassrooms, and in everyday life, girls are oftenat a disadvantage as they are less likely to havehad the same kind of exposure to technology asboys. In higher grades, girls are less likely totake advanced classes—girls comprise only 17percent of Advanced Placement test takers—and are more likely to take data entry classes.33

The Girls Act would require schools to trainteachers to address the different learning needsof girls in technology. Promoting differentexposures to technology can help girls becomefamiliar with broader applications of computersand technology.

12

Despite the progress women have made in thelast 30 years in education and tenure on thejob, statistics show that few women havereached the top in private and public sectororganizations.

✦ Women run only three Fortune 500 compa-nies (Avon, Golden West Financial, HewlettPackard).

✦ Nine of 100 U.S. Senators are women.

The situation for women of color is evenworse. Women of color make up 23 percent ofwomen in the workforce, yet their representa-tion among women who hold managerial andadministrative positions is 14 percent.34

The glass ceiling is comprised of artificial bar-riers based on organizational or attitudinal bias-es that prevent qualified women and people ofcolor from advancing upward into manage-ment-level positions. These barriers operate atmany levels within organizations. In some com-panies the glass ceiling blocks only the path tothe top positions. In others, the ceiling is evi-dent at lower levels. Whatever their level, glassceilings are comprised of day-to-day practices,management and employee attitudes, and inter-nal systems that operate to the career disadvan-tage of women and people of color.

Internal Structural Barriers✦ Recruitment methods that fill upper-level

posts from within and do not cultivate adiverse pool of applicants;

✦ Managers, usually white males, who groomsuccessors who look like themselves;

✦ Concentrating women and people of colorin staff rather than line positions withaccountability but little power;

✦ Lack of corporate ownership for equalemployment opportunity;

✦ Excluding women and people of color fromthe “inner sanctum” of senior management,which may cause middle managers to losethe desire to advance in an organization.

Attitudinal Barriers ✦ Conscious and unconscious stereotyping and

bias related to a person’s gender and/orcolor;

✦ An unwillingness to work with people whoare “different;”

✦ Imposing different standards of performancefor women who are balancing career andfamily demands than those for men.

Enforcement BarriersFederal enforcement agencies must do more tomonitor and enforce laws and regulations aimedat reducing glass ceiling barriers. Improved col-lection of data and reviews targeted at glass ceil-ing barriers will lead to improvements.

S T R AT E G I E S F O R C H A N G E

Employment Practices: Create effectivepolicies and programs to successfullyrecruit and promote women and peopleof color

✦ Create collaborations between corpo-rate, government, and community-basedorganizations to explore strategies foradvancing women and people of colorAs with the other equal pay challenges discussedin this report, eliminating the glass ceiling willtake collaborative efforts. One example of col-laboration is Chicago Area Partnerships(CAPS), a group encompassing community,government and corporate representatives whohave come together to create a forum to discussand provide leadership on workplace issues inwhich they have a shared interest. As CAPSmembers have learned, the most successful col-laborations are marked by the willingness of allparticipants to take risks and be creative inshaping a collective purpose.

✦ Highlight corporate practices that workMany of the organizational and attitudinal bar-riers that make up the glass ceiling cannot beaddressed through legal remedies. Employers

T H E P R O B L E M

Glass Ceiling: Persistent Barriers to Pay Equity and Mobility

13

hould make the advancement of women andpeople of color a business goal with tangibleobjectives. According to a report by CAPS, theollowing corporate practices are effective ways

of eliminating the glass ceiling:35

✦ Make EEO an integrated managementpractice, not just a human resource func-tion;

✦ Create accountability by linking diversityinitiatives to business goals;

✦ Communicate the corporate position onglass ceiling to all stakeholders;

✦ Involve employees in EEO goals;✦ Develop and implement a recruitment

strategy with specific affirmative actiongoals;

✦ Create policies that affirm the organiza-tion’s commitment to diversity;

✦ Create programs that allow employees tobalance work and life responsibilities.

✦ Monitor new employment trends andpolicies Without careful monitoring bymployers, the recent increase in flexible workrrangements, such as job sharing, telecommut-ng, and part-time work, may inadvertently cre-te new barriers for women and people of color.

Employers should analyze the types of jobs thatre eligible for flexible work arrangements tonsure that they include positions that enhancekill levels and offer potential for upward

mobility. Employers should pay part-time staffwages and provide benefits proportionate to thewages and benefits of full-time staff.

Administrative Practices and Legislation:Strengthen enforcement of anti-discrimi-nation laws and affirmative action regu-lations

✦ Strengthen anti-discrimination laws Some women have challenged the glass ceilingusing the protections of anti-discriminationlaws.36 If the enforcement of anti-discriminationlaws were strengthened, more corporationswould proactively work to remove barriers topromotion for women and people of color.Following are specific recommendations forstrengthening existing laws.

✦ Support the enforcement of affirmativeaction requirements See Recommendation onpage 11.

✦ Expand corporate management reviewsby the OFCCP Recent regulatory reform,which established a system of multi-tiered orfocused reviews, has given the OFCCP greaterlatitude in reviewing federal contractors’ com-pliance with affirmative action requirements.Specifically, OFCCP has integrated glass ceilingreviews into the contract compliance reviewprocess. Enforcement improvements haveencouraged contractors to take pro-active stepssuch as succession planning, cross-functionalassignments, and linking compensation andbonus pay to EEO goals to address glass ceilingissues. The OFCCP should expand the numberof glass ceiling reviews it conducts.

At the current federal minimum wage of$5.15 per hour, a full-time worker earns$10,900 a year---$2,900 below the fed-eral poverty level for a family of three($13,880).

Who are the minimum wageworkers?74% are adults60% are females50% work full time

Statistics from Campaign for a Fair Minimum

Wage, “The Minimum Wage: It ain’t what it

used to be”

14

Lack of work is not the problem for manywomen—the problem is that they cannot earnenough in low-wage jobs to support their fami-lies even though they are working full time.This is the reality for working poor adults whohave never been able to earn adequate wagesand women making the transition from welfareto work. The financial and societal costs of low-wage work (effects of poverty from inadequatehousing, food, access to healthcare, etc) serious-ly jeopardize the well-being of millions of work-ing adults and their families. While many low-wage workers have low educational and skilllevels, improving “human capital” through edu-cation and training does not address the inher-ent problems of low-wage work.

Poverty v. Economic Self-SufficiencyIt is virtually impossible for an adult and twochildren to live on the $10,900 annual incomefrom a minimum wage job. How much moneydoes a family need to make ends meet? The fed-eral poverty standard identifies a poverty level,but gives no indication where economic self-sufficiency begins. Even families earning abovethe federal poverty line often cannot pay for themost basic needs, such as decent housing andadequate food.

There is a new measure available that cap-tures the true costs of living and working: TheSelf-Sufficiency Standard for Illinois.37 TheStandard calculates conservative, yet realisticincome levels that working adults need to coverbasic costs; it is calculated by size and makeupof the family and by location in Illinois.Compared to the federal measure, the Standardis more accurate in capturing the actual costs.For example, the federal measure does notinclude the costs of working (i.e., transporta-tion, child care, taxes), and does not includedifferences in housing costs by location (i.e.,rural v. urban). To obtain a copy of The Self-Sufficiency Standard for Illinois contact WomenEmployed.

S T R AT E G I E S F O R C H A N G E

New policies are needed to assist families wholive in poverty despite working full time. Inorder to create meaningful paths out of poverty,the following recommendations need to beadopted, coupled with a commitment toexpanding access to education and training forlow-wage workers.

Employment Practices: Assess the adequacy of current wage rates

✦ Promote wider adoption of voluntarycorporate wage and benefit studiesVoluntary corporate wage studies can be a use-ful tool for employers to assess the adequacy or inadequacy of current wage rates. For exam-ple, such studies can provide critical informa-tion regarding an employee’s ability to accesstransportation to get to and from work, to secure adequate child care, and to meet thebasic costs of living and working. Increasingwages and access to benefits may reduce highturnover rates, particularly in low-wage jobssuch as housekeeping and food service.

Administrative Practices and Legislation:Support laws that increase wages andbenefits for low-income working adults

✦ Support legislation to increase andindex the federal minimum wage

✦ The purchasing power of the current min-imum wage of $5.15 has decreased signifi-cantly over the past three decades.Adjusted for inflation, today’s minimumwage worker earns 31 percent less than aminimum wage worker in 1968.38

Increasing the minimum wage is a vitalelement of increasing the incomes of low-wage workers. The theory that modestincreases in the minimum wage lead tojob losses has been repeatedly tested andfound lacking in evidence to support thisclaim.39 An increase in the minimum wage

T H E P R O B L E M

Millions of Families are Poor Despite Full-Time Work

15

(the 1999 proposal was to increase theminimum wage to $6.15 an hour) wouldbenefit 10 percent of the national work-force and over half a million workers inIllinois.40

✦ Even with a modest increase in the federalminimum wage, working families willcontinue to struggle to make ends meet.One strategy to further boost the low-wages of working adults is to index thefederal minimum wage, tying increases tothe rate of inflation. The minimum wagewill then be adjusted each year to keeppace with rising costs of living.

✦ Support establishing a higher stateminimum wage State or local municipalitiesnd counties can adopt a minimum wage high-r than the federal minimum. Nine other statesnd the District of Columbia have adopted

higher minimum wage rates, including Alaska,California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii,Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont andWashington. Since costs of living vary signifi-antly from state to state, Illinois could ensure a

minimum wage that is based on the real costs ofiving and working in the state.

✦ Support amendments toUnemployment Insurance to provideunemployment benefits to new parentsand expand eligibility requirements toentitle new parents to benefits if they leaveemployment because of lack of paid leaveMany working parents are unable to affordunpaid leaves. Although the Family andMedical Leave Act (FMLA) provides job pro-ected leaves, they are unpaid. States should uti-ize their option to use surplus unemploymentnsurance (UI) funds to ensure that working

parents receive some form of wage replacementwhen taking parental leave. In addition, statesan qualify new parents for UI eligibility if theyeave their jobs because of lack of paid leave;ome states already do this for other “com-

pelling” family reasons such as lack of child care

or family relocation. This is particularly impor-tant for women, who are less likely to receiveUI benefits when they are unemployed undercurrent eligibility requirements.

✦ Support legislation to protect workers’access to information on unions and rightto unionize The ability to access informationon unions and protecting the right to unionizemust be guaranteed through legislation.Unionization is one of the best and most effec-tive ways to raise wages and is an effective strat-egy for increasing wages in female-dominatedjobs and low-wage jobs in general. Unions areparticularly beneficial for women and people ofcolor who often experience wage discriminationand are the majority of low-wage workers. Forfull-time working women of all races, unionmembers earn 38 percent more—an average of$157 each week—than non-union women.41

Union representation also helps to close theminority and gender wage gap. Minoritywomen in unions earn 21 percent more thannon-union minority men and white women inunions earn about the same as non-union whitemen.42

✦ Pass legislation in Illinois to create arefundable state earned income tax credit(EITC) EITCs are a proven method forrewarding work and reducing the tax burden onfamilies who are poor despite working. StateEITCs build on the success of federal tax cred-its, which have existed for decades and are suc-cessful anti-poverty policies. Illinois recentlypassed a state EITC that will apply to tax year2000. It will be five percent of the federal EITCand will average $50 per taxpayer. It is a non-refundable state tax credit which means that thecredit cannot exceed the amount of state taxowed. Illinois should expand the state credit to20 percent of the federal credit and make itrefundable. Research shows that sixty percent ofthe increase in annual employment of singlemothers between 1984 and 1996 is stronglycorrelated with EITC expansion.43

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✦ Support the development of tax credits,such as dependent care credit (eldercare/childcare) and renter’s credit, that specifi-cally target low-income working familiesCurrently, many low-income families cannottake advantage of federal and state tax credits,such as the federal child care and education taxcredits, and the newly passed tuition tax creditin Illinois, because their earnings are too low tobe eligible. Illinois should develop targeted taxpolicies to benefit low-income working families.For example, the state of Massachusetts is cur-rently considering a Self-Sufficiency Tax Packagethat contains several proposed tax relief reme-dies for working poor families, including arenter’s and child care deduction, and creationof a state earned income tax credit.

✦ Identify opportunities to changeincome eligibility criteria from the federalpoverty measure to self-sufficiency levelsFederal poverty levels are often used to deter-mine income eligibility for services such as jobtraining, pre-employment and career counsel-ing, and programs such as IndividualDevelopment Accounts (IDAs) which providesavings incentives to low-income people whoare trying to accumulate assets for purchases orexpenses such as buying a home, automobile, orpaying for school tuition. Because the federalpoverty thresholds are so low, many poor adultscannot access needed services and programs thatcould help them escape poverty. The use of amore realistic standard to determine income eli-gibility levels, such as the self-sufficiency levels,would give access to more low-income peopleneeding such programs. To obtain a copy ofThe Self-Sufficiency Standard for Illinois contactWomen Employed.

An example of the problem was recentlydocumented by the media: a two-tieredpay structure that applies for the samejob performed by part-time workers andfull-time workers at a major airline andpostal delivery service. Hourly wage dif-ferentials between part-timers and full-timers performing the same job taskswent from $10.50 per hour for part-timers to as much as $19.50 per hour forfull-time workers.

The phrase “permatemps” has beencoined to describe the temporary workerwho has worked for a long period oftime at the same company, and is clearlynot “temporary.” A recent example: afull-time (40-hour-per-week) reception-ist who had been working a temporaryassignment for a large-scale companyfor nearly six years. However, as a “tem-porary employee,” the worker and herfamily were ineligible for coveragethrough the company’s health insuranceplan, and were ineligible for other bene-fits provided to full-time, permanentemployees, such as retirement benefitsand paid sick, personal, and vacationdays.

17

Temporary employment has grown by 10 per-ent since 1995 and is one of the nation’s fastestrowing job categories (more than three timesaster than growth in traditional employment).

Women make up 55 percent of the temporaryabor force, compared to 47 percent of the tra-ditional labor force.44 While temporary jobrowth has created more employment opportu-

nities, temporary employees often lack access toquitable pay and the benefits (e.g., healthcare,

paid vacation and sick time, and retirementplans) their full-time, permanent counterpartseceive. This is particularly inequitable in view

of the fact that a quarter of all temporary posi-ions last six months or more.45

Pay equity and access to benefits is also a sig-nificant issue facing part-time employees. Part-ime workers, defined as working a total of lesshan 35 hours per week, make up 18.5 percent

of the workforce and on average, earn 60 per-ent of the wages paid to their full-time coun-erparts.

Only 15 percent of part-time employees areoffered access to health insurance and only 12percent have access to a pension. Most striking,of all part-time employees, nearly 5 million sayhey would like or need to be in full-time posi-ions. When benefits are included as a compo-

nent of compensation, temporary employeesmake 30 to 40 percent less than full-time, per-manent workers; and only 26 percent are eligi-ble for their employers’ health insurance cover-ge, compared to 75 percent of full-time work-rs.46 In many instances, temporary workrrangements can be beneficial to both themployer and the employee: employers canddress fluctuating demands in labor withoutncreasing head-count costs, and employees can

have flexibility in work assignments and sched-ules. However, only 1 in 3 temporary helpgency workers preferred their arrangement and

nearly 60 percent of all temps said they wouldprefer a traditional job.47 Many temporaryworkers (41 percent) would prefer a full-timeob, and the majority indicated that they took

the temporary assignment for non-voluntaryeconomic reasons, often because it was the onlytype of work they could find.48

S T R AT E G I E S F O R C H A N G E

Employment Practices: Promote bestpractices by employers and unions

✦ Identify and publicize corporate andunion policies and practices that offercompetitive pay and access to benefits fortemporary employees and part-time work-ers Fair pay and access to benefits is good forboth the employee and employer. For theemployer, such practices can reduce turnoverand aid in recruitment. For example, companiessuch as Starbucks and Randstad (a nationalstaffing company), and many union jobs pro-vide benefits such as health insurance, retire-ment plans, and stock option purchase plans totemporary and part-time employees.

Administrative Practices and Legislation:Establish laws that prohibit wage andbenefit discrimination against temporaryand part-time workers

✦ Support legislation that would establishwage parity practices (equivalent rate ofpay for part-time and full-time workersperforming the same job tasks) Legislationis needed to prohibit companies from discrimi-nating against employees based on theiremployment status. Compensation should bebased on the responsibilities of the job, ratherthan on an employee’s employment status, i.e.,temporary, part-time, full-time, permanent.Recently, two large companies were sued overunfair pay practices affecting part-time employ-ees who were paid significantly less per hourthan their full-time counterparts performing thesame job. Both companies were ordered tochange their compensation practices.

T H E P R O B L E M

Many Temporary and Part-Time Workers Lack Fair Payand Access to Benefits

18

✦ Support legislation that would maketemporary employees eligible for the samebenefits that full-time permanent employ-ees are offered, i.e., health insurance, paidsick and vacation time, retirement plans,employee stock purchase options, etc. The reality is that many temporary workers areworking for an extended length of time (sixmonths or more) at the same job. Currently,

temporary workers are rarely eligible to receivebenefits despite steady, full-time work. Only 26percent of these workers have access to employ-er health insurance. New proposed legislation atthe federal level would ensure that temporaryworkers with six or more months on the job orthe equivalent of 1000 hours will have the sameaccess to benefits as permanent employees.

19

Almost forty years after passage of the EqualPay Act, women are still being paid less thanmen for the same work. Further, barriers aretill in place, based on attitudinal or organiza-ional biases, that prevent qualified womenrom advancing into management-level posi-ions. Women are still under-represented in

most higher-paying male-dominated occupa-ions. The many women working at minimum

wage face the challenge of supporting them-elves and their families on less than what iteally takes to live and work. While only some

of these situations are illegal, all of them areunfair to women and their families. RaisingWomen’s Pay: An Agenda for Equity was writtens a call to action—that discriminatory and

unfair pay and employment practices must endnd that concrete action must be taken tochieve fair and equitable pay. The five categories of recommendations for

chieving pay equity and improving women’spay have focused on what employers, policy-makers, organizations and individuals can do.Strategies for raising women’s pay that can beutilized by all of these constituencies includehe following:

✦ Take action on legislation that you sup-port (such as enacting a state EarnedIncome Tax Credit) or oppose (such asattempts to abolish affirmative action.)Call, write or meet with your legislator;they want to hear from their constituents.

✦ Write and submit op-ed pieces, letters tothe editor, and articles for organizationalnewsletters to educate and mobilize otherson these issues.

✦ Become a member of an organizationworking on these issues, such as WomenEmployed, or partner with other groupsto raise awareness about raising women’swages.

✦ Educate the public on the inadequacy ofthe minimum wage, the significant num-ber of women and their families trying tosupport themselves on this wage, andwhat level of income it actually takes tosustain a family.

✦ Identify opportunities where income eligi-bility standards could use self-sufficiencylevels rather than federal poverty measures,for programs such as job training or pre-employment training, to increase the abili-ty of low-income job seekers and workersto access real opportunities leading out ofpoverty.

The problem of inequitable pay for women isa systemic problem requiring systemic solutions.It will take collective action to enforce andstrengthen public policy, improve private sectorpolicy, raise public awareness, and provide sup-port to individual women. Working together,organizations, public officials, corporate leaders,and concerned individuals can make thepromise of equal pay for women a reality.

C O N C L U S I O N

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1 Lake Sosin Snell Perry & Associates for AFL-CIO WorkingWomen’s Department, “Ask a Working Woman.”

2 WEI “Working Women Fact Sheet” compiled by WEI fromgovernment statistics (January, 2000).

3 Id.4 Id.5 Retiree Benefits Supplement to the September, 1994 U.S.

Current Population Survey6 “Working Women Fact Sheet,” supra.7 “Equal Pay for Working Families: National and State Data

on the Pay Gap and its Cost,” A Joint Research Project ofthe AFL-CIO and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research,pages 10, 11 (1999)

8 Id.9 Id.10 Id. 11 Id.12 U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau, “Equal Pay: A

Thirty-Five Year Perspective,” page 54, (1998).13 “Face the Facts about Wage Discrimination and Equal Pay,”

National Committee on Pay Equity.14 Id.15 Id.16 “Equal Pay: A Thirty-Five Year Perspective,” supra at page

58.17 “Face the Facts about Wage Discrimination and Equal Pay,”

supra.18 Women Employed Institute and Office for Social Policy

Research Northern Illinois University, “Two Sides of theCoin: A Study of the Wage Gap Between Men and Womenin the Chicago Metropolitan Area,” page 18 (1994).

19 Id.20 “Working Women Fact Sheet,” supra.21 Id.22 “Working Women Fact Sheet,” supra.23 Bayard, Kimberly, Hellerstein, Judith, Neumark, David,

Troske, Kenneth, “New Evidence on Sex Segregation and SexDifferences in Wages from Matched Employee-EmployerData,” National Bureau of Economic Research (March,1999).

24 Kreiter, Nancy B., “Equal Employment Opportunity:EEOC and OFCCP,” in “The Test of Our Progress: TheClinton Record on Civil Rights,” Corrine M. Yu andWilliam L. Taylor, editors, Citizens Commission on CivilRights (1999).

25 Women Employed Institute, “Reinventing the EqualEmployment Opportunity Commission: Barriers toEnforcement,” page 13 (1997).

26 Id. at page 2.27 S7428 S70229 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics,

“Employment and Earnings,” January, 1999, page 178.30 Current Population Survey, “Educational Attainment in the

US,” March 1998 update, page 20, Table 9. 31 Code of Federal Regulations, Title 41, Sections 60-2.12(e),

2.15, 2.30.32 S1264/HR 250533 American Association of University Women, “Gender Gaps:

Where Schools Still Fail Our Children (1998).34 Catalyst, “Women of Color in Corporate Management:

Opportunities and Barriers” (1999).35 Chicago Area Partnerships, “Pathways & Progress:

Corporate Best Practices to Shatter the Glass Ceiling,” (pub-lished by Women Employed, Chicago, IL) (1996).

36 Cole, Patrick, “Women say bias keeps their stock low atfinancial firms” Chicago Tribune, April 19, 1999.

37 Pearce, Ph.D., Diana, “The Self-Sufficiency Standard forIllinois: Selected Family Types,” Wider Opportunities forWomen, Inc. (1998).

38 Ginsburg, Woodrow L., “The Minimum Wage: It ain’t whatit used to be,” Campaign for a Fair Minimum Wage, page 3(1998).

39 Bernstein, Jared, “The Next Step: The new minimum wageproposal and the old opposition,” Economic Policy Institute,Issue Brief #130, (April 27, 1999)

40 Id.41 Institute for Women’s Policy Research, “Equal Pay for

Working Families: A National Overview,” (1999).42 Id.43 Meyer, Bruce D. and Rosenbaum, Dan T. “Welfare, the

Earned Income Tax Credit, and the Labor Supply of SingleMothers,” NBER Working Paper No. 7363 (September1999).

44 Cohany, Sharon R., “Workers in Alternative EmploymentArrangements: A Second Look,” in Monthly Labor Review,page 13 (November, 1998).

45 Id. at page 15.46 Id. at page 17.47 Id. at pages 14, 15.48 Id. at pages 13, 14.

F O O T N O T E S

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Affirmative Action: A tool used by employersand schools that affords qualified individualswho might otherwise be excluded because ofprejudice a fair and equal opportunity tocompete.

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): EITCsreturn income taxes to low- to moderate-income working families. The federal EITC,in place since the 1970s, has been an effec-tive poverty-fighting tool that enables theworking poor to keep more of their earnedincome. Beginning in tax year 2000, Illinoisbecomes the thirteenth state to establish itsown EITC to supplement the federal credit.Illinois’ EITC is a non-refundable state taxcredit that is five percent of the federal cred-it.

Educating America’s Girls Act of 1999(S1264/HR 2505): A proposed federal billthat would improve education for girls byreducing gender bias in technology.

Equal Pay Act of 1963: The Equal Pay Actprohibits sex-based discrimination in paybetween men and women for similar jobs.

Equal Pay Day: Equal Pay Day symbolizes thepoint in the following year in which awoman must work to reach the wages paidto a man in the previous calendar year.Because a woman’s yearly earnings are onaverage 74% of a man’s, she has to workmore to “catch up” to his earnings.

Executive Order 11246: Executive Order11246 prohibits federal contractors from dis-criminating based on sex, race, color, nation-al origin or religion.

Fair Labor Standards Act: The federal FairLabor Standards Act establishes minimumsfor fair pay and hours, including the 40-hour workweek and overtime rules. TheFLSA is enforced by the Department ofLabor’s Wage and Hour Division.

Fair Pay Act (S702): A proposed federal billthat would amend the Fair Labor StandardsAct to prohibit discrimination in wages paidto employees within a workplace in compa-rable jobs based solely on the worker’s sex,race or national origin.

Family and Medical Leave (FMLA): FMLA isa federal law passed in 1993 that requiresemployers with 50 or more employees toprovide up to 12 weeks of unpaid but job-protected leave per year for childbirth oradoption, or the serious health condition ofthe employee or an immediate family mem-ber.

Individual Development Accounts (IDAs):IDAs are dedicated savings accounts, similarin structure to Individual RetirementAccounts (IRAs), that can be used for pur-chasing a first home, education or job train-ing expenses, or capitalizing a small business.IDAs are managed by community organiza-tions and are held at local financial institu-tions.

Glass Ceiling: The glass ceiling is the level atwhich it is difficult or impossible for womenor people of color to advance within a givencorporate structure.

Know Your Opportunities: An Illinois lawthat requires the Illinois Department ofHuman Services to inform welfare recipientsabout all of their education, training, andemployment opportunities.

Non-Traditional Occupations: Jobs in whichless than 25 percent of workers are female.

Occupational Segregation: A term that refersto the segregation of workers by genderwithin particular occupations. For example,women continue to work in occupationssuch as social workers, child and health careproviders while men tend to work in occu-

G LO S S A R Y

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pations such as engineers, police officers andairplane pilots.

Pay Equity: Pay equity is a system to eliminatesex and race discrimination in an employer’swage-setting system using neutral criteria.This counteracts the undervaluing of jobshistorically held by women and people ofcolor.

Paycheck Fairness Act (S74): A proposed fed-eral bill that would expand damages avail-able under the Equal Pay Act and prohibitretaliation against employees who share wageinformation with co-workers.

School-to-Work Program: School programsthat prepare students for the world of workthrough career exploration and career coun-seling.

Self-Sufficiency Standard for Illinois: TheSelf-Sufficiency (SS) Standard is an alterna-tive measure to the federal poverty level usedto document the costs of living that familiesmust meet to move out of poverty. The SSStandard is calculated based on family sizeand type and by geographic area. The SSStandard, which was developed by Dr. DianaPearce for Wider Opportunities for Women

(WOW), is part of WOW’s State OrganizingProject for Family Economic Self-Sufficiencyand has been developed for 11 other states.

Temporary Workers: Temporary workers arepaid by a temporary help agency, whether ornot their job is actually temporary.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964:Title VII bans discrimination in all aspectsof employment on the basis of sex, race,color, religion, national origin and ancestry.Aspects of employment include recruitment,job advertisement, hiring, training, jobassignment, promotion, transfer, use of com-pany space, layoff, firing, wages, disciplinaryaction, all fringe benefits, and other terms,privileges and conditions.

Wage Gap: The wage gap refers to the differ-ence between the average, annual full-timeearnings of men as compared to those ofwomen.