In a speech on Monday at a campaign event in New York, Hillary Clinton detailed an economic strategy that would include closing the gender gap. “The movement of women into the workforce over the past forty years was responsible for more than three and a half trillion dollars in economic growth,” Clinton said. “But that progress has stalled. The United States used to rank 7th out of 24 advanced countries in women’s labor force participation. By 2013, we had dropped to 19th. That represents a lot of unused potential for our economy and for American families. Studies show that nearly a third of this decline relative to other countries is because they’re expanding family-friendly policies like paid leave and we are not.” She also declared that “It’s time to recognize that quality, affordable childcare is not a luxury—it’s a growth strategy.”
One figure that continually dominates the discussion on women's participation in the labor force is 77%. Whenever the 77 cents to the dollar statistic comes up, I usually hear someone say, “but that’s because women’s career choices are different, and they take time off to start families!” Those factors certainly play a role in the wage gap, however, as Clinton pointed out, policies can be put into place that would curb their effect, or eliminate them altogether. The United States is the only resource-rich nation not to mandate paid family leave for events such as birth of a child or illness of a parent. Without paid family leave or the affordable child care Clinton mentioned in her speech, new mothers often leave the workplace for long stretches, resulting in lost wages and less experience. A full 10.5% of the income difference between men and women can be attributed to labor force experience.
The 77 cents statistic also changes when you break it down by race and sexual orientation. Black women earn 64 cents to every dollar white, non-Hispanic men make, and Latinas earn 55 cents. The effect sexual orientation has on the wage difference is similar, though still needs more investigation. A few studies have shown that gay men earn 10-32% less than their straight counterparts. Lesbians and bi women are, for whatever reason, even less studied than gay men, but preliminary findings show that we actually make more than straight women. Don't celebrate(?) too soon, though. We still earn less than men, and given that lesbian women typically marry other women (or so I’m told), it doesn't take a statistician to figure out that the data would show that lesbian couples earn less than heterosexual couples.
The wage gap has a particularly negative effect on racial minority and queer families, so policy makers (such as Hillary, if she wins) and companies who work on closing the gap have my attention.
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