Are American women still lagging behind?

For nearly half a century the United States has taken pride in the being the world's role model regarding women's rights. While the feminist movement was weakened since the end of the liberal consensus in the early 1980s and faced considerably opposition from the country's political right, yet women have been making considerable headway in their fight for economic equality. While great gender specific income inequality and informal gender based job segregation continue define the U.S. labor market, women are slowly closing the gender gap and have assumed the roles of indispensible breadwinners for most families.

Despite recent advanced women are underrepresented in the paid labor force, less likely to work full-time and, therefore, earn less than men (though statistics, as we, shall see suggest that there's more to the story). To a naive observer this might suggest that there is not a serious problem at hand. Afterall, if women work less than they should make less - what counts is only whether or not they make as much or more, after adjusting for work effort and education. That, however, is an awfully poor rationalization. Women are endowed with as many natural gifts as men; it is our culture that puts them on track to work part-time, be more likely not to work at all, or go into those occupations that pay less (women's jobs). Thus, the answer lies more in education, busting the shakles of traditional gender roles so women are no longer channeled out of the more lucrative sections of the labor force.

Among those age 25 or older, excluding teenagers who earn pocket money and most students, women only comprised 46% of the labor force, with an astounding 48% of women age 25 or older not participating in the paid labor force, compared to only 23% among men, age 25 or older, respectively. The disparity was even greater among those employed full-time with men, age 25 or older, being 55% more likely to be employed full-time than women. Of the roughly 101 million American women over the age of 25 in 2006, only 62% were paid members of the labor force, and only 42% were employed full-time year-round, compared to 73% and 62% for men, respectively. Of wage earning women, age 25 or older, only 64% were employed full-time, compared to 81% among men, making women 26% more likely be working part-time, if employed at all.

While part of the overall inequality between the two genders can be attributed to discrepancies participation in the paid labor force, women are paid considerably less than men of comparable educational background and employment status. In 2006, the median earnings for fully employed wage earning men, age 25 or older with at least a four year college degree were 35% higher than those of women of the same cohort with the same educational attainment. While the percentage difference in pay was lowest among fully-employed wage earning adults[1] with a Bachelor's degree with men out-earning women by 44%, followed by those with a doctorate degree where the median earnings of men were 42% higher than those of women, gender discrepancies among college graduates overall were slightly lower than among non graduates. The mean discrepancy in median gross annual earnings between men and women of the adult cohort with similar educational attainment was $15,527. This means that adult men, employed full-time, year round out-earned women of the same cohort, employment state and with the same educational attainment by an average of 36%, earning $1 for every 74 cents earned by their female counterparts.

Much of the inequality can be explained through cultural tradition within American society. Traditionally, women were confined to certain occupation that reflected their prescribed social role of nurturer. They were rarely found among professionals, managers or manual laborers. As with most western societies, only men in the U.S. were seen as suited for jobs that either require great objectivity (e.g. professor or scientists), impart power (e.g. judge or police officer) or are dangerous (e.g. manual laborer or fire fighter). Nurturing roles, with little authority and prestige, such as kindergarten teachers, nurses and clerical workers were seen as "women's jobs." The phrase "pink collar" was coined in order to describe the low prestige, closely supervised, routinized and lowly paid white collar occupations of women. Overall, women in the workplace occupied a similar role as in the traditional American family: to support men; be it a nurse supporting a doctor, a secretary supporting a manger, or a wife supporting her husband. Only after the women's liberalization movement that took place in the middle of the 20^th century, were women increasingly accepted as leaders, authority figures and objective minds.

That said, women have become made considerable progress . In 2005, women earned 58%, up from 47% in 1980, of all Bachelor's degrees granted and have become a common sight in many professions. Yet, the traditionally female occupations, such as nurses and clerical workers, are still dominated by women, while traditionally male occupations, such as scientists and police officers are still dominated by men. Furthermore, the continued income disparities between men and women of similar educational backgrounds, age cohorts and employment status indicate that women continue to be tracked towards lower paying occupations that are likely to be more closely supervised and less prestigious.

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written by Grassroot Vizir, April 03, 2008

I wouldn't consider women to be behind anymore. I think women have overtook men as far as the raw percentage of our college student body, and in many areas and industries, women often excel above men.

Of course, full inequality has not been achieved yet, but give it a few more decades.

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