Times Have Changed … but There Is More To Do!

Women are more educated now than 40 years ago and many are holding positions of influence in the workplace. As you can see in the diagram below, the percentages of women in 1970 that had less than a high school diploma and those in 2010 that completed a college degree  are practically flip flopped.  More women than men now earn college degrees.

Unfortunately, these changes have had little effect on gender pay disparity. Women still make about 73-77 cents for ever dollar a man makes (depending on geographic location). Over a life time, this gender pay disparity creates a wage gap that, measured over a 40-year period, adds up to major losses for women.  In Ohio, it means a wage gap of $449,000 between men and women with high school diplomas, a $502,000 gap for those with some college, and a $657,000 gap between men and women with Bachelor’s degrees.

What happens because of this wage gap is that women face different challenges in their lives than men – serious challenges that affect their quality of life. They are often not able to retire.  According to the Health Policy Institute of Ohio, women in Ohio are “more likely to live in poverty, be enrolled in Medicaid, and not to be working.” The study also revealed that women are more likely to get cancer.

 

In 2010, we had 31 women between the ages of 55 and 83 who participated in our New Directions program.  Three of the women were in their 80s!  Those numbers are astounding.  Women are being forced to work, or return to work, at much older ages. This is a trend that will continue if more efforts are not made to improve the disparity.

 

New Directions Career Center is a resource for women in careers and the workplace.  We take a holistic approach to developing women as healthy persons and thus more valuable employees. We inform people about women in today’s workplace; specifically the barriers, disparities, trends, needs and how things are changing.  We are proud to be part of the solution to decrease the wage gap, level out gender pay disparity. We empower women to achieve and maintain economic self-sufficiency. What better way to promote change in the work place and the world?