Women Still Earn Less Than Men in Pink Collar Jobs
Men Earn 20% More Than Women in Pink Collar Jobs
Who would have guessed that 100 years after the first International Women's Day was recognized, women would still earn less than men, for doing the exact same job. How much less you ask? Women earn less than men by about 20%.
This was revealed in a 2009 Bureau of Labor Statistics report showing men with a median weekly salary at $819 and women earning less at $657 for doing the same job.
The report breaks down the earnings difference between men and women across two specific occupation clusters:
- In education and health services where 17 million women employed, the median weekly earnings for men were $913. Women earned 21.4% less than the men with $717 median weekly earnings.
- In wholesale and retail trade occupations where 5 million women were employed, the median weekly earnings for men were $688. Women earned 24% less than the men with $523 median weekly earnings.
The irony is that these occupation clusters, Education, Health services and Retail have jobs that fit into the group of jobs referred to as "pink collar" jobs. The term "pink-collar" job was an attempt to distinguish jobs considered "suited" to females compared to the "blue-collar" jobs considered suitable for men because of the manual labor; and "white-collar" jobs, suitable for men as the professional, educated office workers.
Traditionally, "pink collar" jobs were attractive to women because these jobs did not require as much education and training as "white collar" jobs and these "pink collar" jobs facilitated the larger role that women played as primary caregivers for children and families.
Well, the reality remains that women are still, overwhelmingly the primary caregivers for children and families, and women still earn less than men even in these "pink collar" jobs.
The answer may be simpler than we think. "We're kind of stuck," said Debra Fitzpatrick, director of the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute's Center on Women and Public Policy, in a recent interview for Cleveland.com, "We are at a real turning point of where we're going to go." Fitzpatrick was responding to the latest White House report on the status of women confirming that women earn less than men.
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Published by Marcia Robinson
Marcia has been writing about work, employment, careers, education, entrepreneurship and related political issues for thirteen years. She has a strong commitment to supporting the personal and professional... View profile
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1 Comments
Post a CommentThanks, it seems hard to understand but is so true , well done Marcia!