As of today, you will have worked a sufficient amount of time to earn the same amount of money that your male colleagues earned as of Dec. 31.
Go out and celebrate as you see fit.
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Dating Jesus 
Reading the Bloomberg coverage this morning which reports, among other things, that in the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk metro area in your neck of the woods, women in the finance and insurance professions make just 44¢ for every dollar a man makes. (The national figure is 59¢. Which means working women in those professions have a couple of months yet to catch up.)
The Hartford area is a little better than the national average at 70¢ on the dollar.
It could just be that men in those professions dominate the top earning jobs, as they do nationally. (Bloomberg isn’t clear on that.) But the Bloomberg report, (including the Emily Liner/Third Way and Diana Furchtgott-Roth/ MIPR research cited), tends to call bullshit on the Obama EEOC stated position that “There’s a lack of data about where [illegal wage] disparities exist.” So…instead…polarized groups are left tossing talking points at one another while back at The Ranch, next to nothing gets done. “It is going to take years before we can fully address this,” says Liner. Business As Usual survives intact.
That’s just damn unbearable. How long, o Lord, how long?
Enough probable cause exists for the EEOC, and the DOJ IMO, to insist on standardized reporting from the private sector without waiting for Congress to balance the duty to enforce existing law with the desires of folks like The Chamber of Commerce to make bank off the backs of working women.
Women should not have to sue their employer to force compliance with existing law. The EEOC and the DOJ have the power, and the duty, to ensure existing laws are being upheld. Until we demand they act on that duty, and provide the funding necessary for them to act on that duty, all we’re going to get is activists, pundits and more politicians throwing bullshit at each other.
I agree. We talk about this in my class, and we have an example of the shenanigans right here on campus. The administrative staff at my job are pushing for a 2 percent raise, as opposed to 1 percent they’re being offered. The facilities union received 2 percent. The facilities union is mostly male. The admin union is mostly female.
That’s a good example when gender wage disparity can seem to be under the radar – in jobs that are dominated by one gender or another. It’s not as if you can compare exactly a man and a woman doing the same exact job and point to a wage difference. So, as far as I know, there is no law to protect from that, right? Female dominated careers are often underpaid, when you compare to other professions requiring similar experience and education. And roles that are connected to actually making a difference in a person’s life – medical assistants, nurses, elementary school teachers, home care providers, childcare providers, social workers, non-profit community workers – all underpaid in my opinion, despite some requiring a graduate degree. Most of these are female dominated professions. We want these people out there doing the job and taking care of us and our family members, but don’t value them enough to pay them fairly.
It stinks.
Amen.
EEOC
That law has been on the books since 1963. Every so often, Congress examines the issue and discovers the intent of the law has yet to be achieved. They decide more research is needed. It never gets done. Despite the fact the data is right there. (More data.) After 53 years our government cannot seem to find a way to enforce the law. Looking at that chart above, the reason is obvious. The people who own the politicians, the same people who own the workers, the people who profit from inequality, don’t want it enforced.
I do see, however, President Obama has created a “Women’s Equality National Monument” to formally celebrate the fact there is none. Congratulations. (It’s a house. Is that irony?)
Capitalism! Yay?
It’s like this toy a cat drags out to smack around every once in a while. How long, oh Lord, how long?
Effecting change to a profitable, but morally offensive, business model is going to require new owners. Past and current practice, (regurgitating 100 years of empty rhetoric and calling it “progress”), on this particular issue makes that abundantly clear. Regulation, reformism, and promises, however well-intentioned they might be, is…obviously…not getting the job done.
Unless women are willing to wait another hundred years for a clear and distinct Maybe.
“In the same workplace” is a problem since women and men can be segregated in their positions and roles. Why is it legal to pay professional athletes who are male a lot more on average than professional female athletes in the same sport? Answer: They don’t play on the same team (nor can they). This may be blatant and legal gender segregation, but other areas are traditionally segregated and compensated inequitably as well.
“How long?” is an excellent question!
If the source of the paycheck is the same, it’s the same workplace no matter where people are physically located.
Positions and roles are not as important as job content under the law. “Substantially equal” is the operative term.
Employers use all sorts of dirty tricks to subvert the law. That’s why standardized reporting is necessary. So the EEOC and the DOJ and Congress can no longer turn their back on the issue.