It seems we're living in a country that penalizes women for:
According to a new study just published by OWL (Older Women's League National Board), women over 50 are in dire straits.
In the report, OWL, an advocacy group, begins its executive summary with some positive news by stating:
Midlife and older women are the fastest-growing sector of the U.S. workforce, and their participation in the nation's productivity is at an all-time high. As greater numbers of older women delay retirement, their presence in the workplace will continue to increase.
But, the report goes on to highlight a few of the stark realities of life as a woman over 50 in America:
The past few years of economic decline, slow recovery and related job cuts in state and local governments were particularly devastating for women. Along with the negative impact of the recession, older women workers are facing an array of obstacles in the workplace including age and gender discrimination; pay inequality; under-representation in business ownership, high-paying science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) jobs; caregiving demands and penalties; underemployment; and a lack of retirement security.
Generally speaking, women still earn only 77 cents for every dollar men earn, and this disparity widens dramatically with age.
"We've got women who have a lot of skills and who have experience, and that should be used. We need them, you know, contributing to the social system, and we need them to get compensated for it," said Margaret Huyck, president of OWL, in a recent interview.
One possible explanation for the pay gap is that women are more likely than men to leave the workforce for a period of time to take care of children, aging parents and spouses that are ill. The report finds "most caregivers are female and middle-aged and drop out of the workforce for an average of 12 years to care for young children or aging parents." The end result is often the same: the woman who chooses this path gets penalized by earning less than her male counterpart or not getting the job at all.
Working fewer years and earning less money can make it difficult for women when they retire. According to the report, almost twice as many retired women (12 percent) live in poverty as retired men (6.6 percent), and that without Social Security benefits half of women age 65 and older would live below the poverty line. And because there are so many more older women than men, many women live alone and don't benefit from the lower living expenses enjoyed by couples. Men, by contrast, are much more likely to live with a spouse and tend to remarry if their wife dies.
Even for those women over 50 who are lucky enough to have a job, many are woefully underemployed. According to the study, for women ages 55 to 61 who have a job, nearly 21 percent of them are underemployed, compared with only 7 percent of men that age.
To underscore the statistics, another study just published by Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW), a Washington, DD non-profit organization, states that older women are at greater risk of economic insecurity than older men. Its analysis of U.S. Census data found that 60 percent of women and only 40 percent of men age 65 and older who live alone or with a spouse do not have enough money to pay for their basic needs.
The OWL report -- which can be downloaded for free by going to their website -- offers many recommendations, including tougher anti-discrimination laws to discourage age and gender discrimination, incentives for companies to hire older workers and support for women entrepreneurs. They also suggest changes that could help all workers, such as more flexible work schedules.
This is a national travesty, and every woman in America -- regardless of age -- should be outraged. The fact that this didn't make headline news is disappointing and very telling.
What can you do?
Start by sharing this article. Download the report. Read it. And get really, really mad.
Next, buy products and services from companies that have a history of supporting women and especially older women.
And finally, in November, choose government officials who will make sure this is fixed, once and for all, for you, and future generations of women.
Take a quick look at this 30-second snippet from a speech I gave recently at the UniteWomen March and Rally in New York City. I hope it will become your mantra, too.
Barbara Hannah Grufferman is the President of Best of Everything Media, Inc., author of "The Best of Everything After 50", a guide to positive aging, and is at work on her second book, "Fifty Rules: What Every Woman Needs to Know Before Turning 50" which will be published in late 2012. Visit www.bestofeverythingafter50.com for more tips on living your best life after 50. She can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Follow Barbara Hannah Grufferman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BGrufferman
That is solely because the union representing these workings insists on an agreement that provides equal and pay and benefits for the work done regardless of the gender of the worker. And if there is a problem with that then the working folks have an avenue to address these problems through their union.
We need new ideas. We need new (and more) jobs. We need employment environments that recognize the realities of human existence (children, aging).
As a nation, are we really in a position to throw away the potential contributions of millions of people? Shouldn't we be looking to solve these employment issues together - as it is in our best interest to do so? And yes, let's vote beyond our immediate self-interest, and taking a longer term view for the health of our country.
Thanks for reading and commenting,
Barbara
Best,
Barbara
But thanks for reading,
Barbara
Having been through this, it's not much of a choice. Women are more likely to be the caregivers simply because the couple takes stock of who makes less at work. As women get paid less, they are the ones who have to stop working. And then, it's more difficult to reenter the workforce after that.
And, in another bit of unfairness, they are the ones who are also more likely to be the ones managing the logistics of kids, etc. so, when the job interviewer asks if you can stay late without notice you have to say "no." (Who will pickup the kids when your spouse is working a 60+ hour job?) That, alone, has cost me probably three jobs.
Another thing, I am a woman, over 50 and I just started my own business. If you don't like the work force as it is (paying), make your own tracks!
One would think they would be out in force making a statement to their local officials.
We will see if they come out in November and make all those republican's go fishing
for the rest of their lives.
You're now even proud enough to displa
I have been with this company 17 years and for the last 5 years have not received one raise. I feel that they are abusing the economic state as reason. Our numbers are up, the men are all driving company cars (Porsches and Mercedes) but there is no extra for even a cost of living increase for their employees. My salary is ok but I know that if I were a man I would be making at least 20% more.
The Owner and VPs are men and the rest of us are all women. Most of the women here are sole bread winners or have spouses who are disabled or they are widowed. It's very obvious that they are being taken advantage of.
Now I am 50 and not sure what to expect form the ever decreasing job market. I have been looking but it’s tough out there.
All I can say is I have a voice and a vote and I definitely plan on using them. Thank you for shedding light on this issue.
My former employer was notorious for paying women less than men with less education and experience. The men at my job would even tell you or leave written evidence for us to find that proved it. The company felt they could do so as they wrote into your work agreement (you had to sign) that you couldn't sue them if they violated any civil rights legislation, including any equal pay laws.
If you complained about any form of sexism, they'd force you out. If you tried to sue, they had a team of attorneys ready to have it dismissed on technicalities. If you went to the government, you wouldn't get any help--it could be that they weren't competent, but it could also be that the influence of the parent company, which was a HUGE political donor (in the millions.)
So, no surprise that this company was led by an old white Republican family who hired similarly-minded older white men as managers. And all that prejudice against women really trickled down through the ranks.
And, yes, a vote for the GOP is a vote against you, the working woman.
do stop bleating about it being a gender thing
if feminists are real - do engineering etc. - then u will have real economic power
That doesn't make any sense. Why don't we just pass the ERA and make the EEOC (and other agencies) do their job and start cracking down on employers who underpay women.
It couldn't be more obvious when I went to the EEOC about my former employer. I had a copy of the schedule of raises and a copy of my check, on which there was no such raises. I had proof of achievements the company said were necessary for a certain level of meritorious pay and there was no such pay on my check. It was really really easy to see the discrepancy; it was all in writing and the EEOC did absolutely nothing.
In fact, I think the EEOC "investigator" was eating her lunch at the same time she informed me that they wouldn't be doing anything with it. She couldn't have sounded less interested...
Decades ago Simone de Beauvoir wrote in The Second Sex that the only hope for a woman for a decent life under patriarchy was to become a self-employed professional or business owner: a doctor, lawyer, psychologist, scientist. Time has show de Beauvoir accurate --- women who had professions or businesses tend to do well, own property, live a comfortable non-impoverished lifestyle.
Women who do not finish their educations, who make careers secondary to raising a family, who work only sporadically or part-time or at low-paid work, take a big financial hit and remain dependent on male largesse, which often disappears with aging, divorce or death.
With the ongoing Bush recession, many individuals and families are barely treading water economically and not saving for retirement, old age, disability. The economic situation is a disaster, as is the whole brutal earth-destroying global economic system. The way through disasters is to subsume personal agendas and help each other. A way for women through this disaster is to join together and help each other, understanding that each other includes the forests and whales, the lemurs and the albatross, the mountains and seas.
I guess I could go back to get a Phd, so, maybe the EEOC could then understand that I should be paid, at least, equally as a man with only a high school education. It doesn't seem to register when you only have your Master's degree.
I was widowed young, and my daughters did not have their father to help raise them. We don't have to bow to "men's legacy", but I agree it is a struggle.
I think that it is important for women to help one another; to band together and work toward that which will help us to receive equality in work, health, family and government. Freedom to be the best we can be is the goal.
I'm tired of hearing from them when discuss any subject less recent than Britney Spears, "Oh, that happened before I was born." Yeah, so did most of world history.
I can hardly wait before y'all are subject to the same age discrimination by the kids after you... That should be fun to watch you struggle and protest.
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I'm all for women getting high paying jobs, etc. But this advice just strikes me as a tad naive. I mean really, in this day, it's hard enough to find companies that have a history of supporting products and services made here in the USA. To try and fine tune that search by narrowing it to products and services supporting a demographic like older women, would frankly be impossible.