What IS a Living Wage?

Social and Economic Justice

Today, in 2003, we find ourselves, as women, continuing to face multiple levels of sexism and economic disenfranchisement in our society, in our communities, in our day-to-day lives. And when we think of justice, how do we find justice when we have women continuing to struggle to be all of who they want to be or believe they can be?

It behooves us women to question all historians, sacred and profane, who teach by examples or precepts any philosophy that lowers the status of the mothers of the race, or favors the one-man Power in government.

As women, we have a herstory that requires examination to help us shape our futures. We know that we struggle with being able to support our families and capturing the "American Dream" we hear so much about. We know that life can be difficult trying to survive on a wage that keeps us living in poverty. We find ourselves having to choose between buying a warm winter coat, paying the insurance on a car that will break down again or being able to buy the kinds of over-the-counter medications needed to take care of our sick children. It can get wearisome and often, we don't understand why in the richest country in the world, we have this struggle. Many of us will blame ourselves for "our lot in life." In addition, women also want to use their bodies and minds in ways that have historically been closed to them.

Where is the justice?

As we look to the past, the far past, we can see a time when societies were more egalitarian. The roles of both men and women were necessary to the survival of the people and society valued them as equally important. Ancient societies carried egalitarian values around decision-making, authority, political and spiritual leadership, and economic distributions. Over time that changed, societies moved to a male dominated social order where men's roles are defined as having a higher societal value and women were excluded from access. Men have been afforded more power and opportunity, they have the power and authority to shape and define what is important and control the majority of the wealth. At the same time, in a male dominated society, women's "work" tends to be paid at lower wages and have lesser societal value.

When we look to our more recent past, we can see how women have been devalued in our society. We know from our history lessons that there was a time when women did not have the right to vote. At the same time, women were limited in their access to employment that could sustain themselves and their children, institutions of higher education as well as in their ability to own and control property.

During the last century and a half, women have organized to raise their status.

One Hundred Years Toward Suffrage: An Overview
1776	Abigail Adams writes to her husband, John, who is attending the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, asking that he and the other men--who were at work on the Declaration of Independence--"Remember the Ladies." John responds with humor. The Declaration's wording specifies that "all men are created equal."
1820 to 1880	Evidence from a variety of printed sources published during this period reveals that Americans held highly stereotypical notions about women's and men's roles in society.
1839	Mississippi passes the first Married Woman's Property Act.
1844	Female textile workers in Massachusetts organize and demand a 10-hour workday. They formed one of the first permanent labor associations for working women in the United States
1848	The first women's rights convention in the United States is held in Seneca Falls, New York. Many participants sign a "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions" that outlines the main issues and goals for the emerging women's movement. Thereafter, women's rights meetings are held on a regular basis.
1849	Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery. Over the next ten years she leads many slaves to freedom by the Underground Railroad.
1868	The Fourteenth Amendment is ratified, which extends to all citizens the protections of the Constitution against unjust state laws. This Amendment was the first to define "citizens" and "voters" as "male."
1872	Susan B. Anthony is arrested and brought to trial in Rochester, New York, for attempting to vote in the presidential election. At the same time, Sojourner Truth appears at a polling booth in Grand Rapids, Michigan, demanding a ballot; she is turned away.
1878	A Woman Suffrage Amendment is introduced in the United States Congress. The wording is unchanged in 1919, when the amendment finally passes both houses.
1893	Colorado becomes the first state to adopt a state amendment enfranchising women.
1916	Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first American woman elected to represent her state in the U.S. House of Representatives.
1920	The Nineteenth Amendment is ratified.
1923	The National Woman's Party first proposes the Equal Rights Amendment to eliminate discrimination on the basis of gender. It has never been ratified.

During the early part of this same period, while women of European descent were gaining ground, women of Latin origins living in the southwest lost many of their rights as states were formed. Indigenous women were suffering extreme atrocities. The values of traditional Native society were being undermined by practices aimed at gaining control of the land and resources exposing and imposing a values system foreign to Native societies that relegated women to substandard citizens. Native women were raped, abused and killed in order to seize land and force the assimilation of Native people. Women of African descent were enslaved by white landowners. They were raped by the slave owners to impregnate them to increase their wealth. The families of those held in slavery were often torn a part and sold or traded to increase wealth as well.

AIN'T I A WOMAN?

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.

Sojourner Truth, delivered at the Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio, 1851.

So now, nearly a century and a half later, have we achieved equality?

The National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE), founded in 1979, is a national membership coalition of over 80 organizations, including labor unions, women's and civil rights organizations, religious, professional, education and legal associations, commissions on women, state and local pay equity coalitions and individual women and men working to eliminate sex- and race-based wage discrimination and to achieve pay equity. The NCPE maintains that a wage gap continues to exist, in part, because many women and people of color are still segregated into a few low-paying occupations.

Margaret Mead states in "Male and Female:"

"In every known human society, the male's need for achievement can be recognized. Men may cook or weave or dress dolls or hunt humming-birds, but if such activities are appropriate occupations of men, then the whole society, men and women alike, votes them as important. When the same occupations are performed by women, they are regarded as less important. In a great number of human societies men's sureness of their sex role is tied up with their right, or ability, to practice some activity that women are not allowed to practice."

Since the Equal Pay Act was signed in 1963, the wage gap has been closing at a very slow rate. In 1963, women who worked full-time, year-round made 59 cents on average for every dollar earned by men. In 2000, women earned 73 cents to the dollar. That means that the wage gap has narrowed by a little over a third of a penny per year! More than half of all women workers hold service jobs.

The wage gap is most severe for women of color. In 1999, European American women earned 72% of every dollar earned by men. Consider these facts about the paychecks of black and Hispanic women in the workplace:

Of full-time workers, black women's median weekly earnings ($429) were only 64% of the earnings of white men ($669) in the year 2000.
In one year, the average black woman earns approximately $12,000 less than the average white man does. Over a thirty-five year career, this adds up to $420,000!
Among full-time, year-round workers, black women with Bachelors' degrees make only $1,545 more per year than white males who have only completed high school.
Black women account for 30% of all female-headed families in the U.S. They have a median income of $18,244 annually, while families headed by white males (no wife present) have a median income of $39,240. (Notes: 1) Income is more inclusive than earnings. 2) The term "female-headed families" does not necessarily include the presence of children.)
According to the Census Bureau, in 2000, the median full-time earnings for Hispanic women were $20,527 only 52% of the median earnings of white men ($37,339).
In one year, the average Hispanic woman working full-time earns $17,837 less than the average white man does. Over a 30-year career, that adds up to $510,000!
The median income of a female Hispanic householder ($20,765) is only 46% of the incomes of single white male householders ($44,988). (Note: Income is more inclusive than earnings.)
Hispanic women with a high school diploma earn $22,469. That is 33% less than white men with the same level of education.

Today, in 2003, as women, we continue to face multiple levels of sexism and economic disenfranchisement in our society, in our communities, in our day to day lives. Women in Construction, LLC strives to create an equal playing field for women entering construction trades. There is a belief that this business for and by women belongs here, there is a place in the world for it.

Discrimination in the Trades

The construction industry has been overwhelmingly male dominated for years, and on many jobsites women construction workers are not welcome.
Sex discrimination and anti-women attitudes are still prevalent on worksites, despite the fact that sex discrimination is illegal.
According to Women in the Construction Workplace: Providing Equitable Safety and Health Protection, study and recommendations by the Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health found that, in a one year period:
- 41% of female construction workers suffered from gender harassment. In the CWIT study,
- 88% of the respondents reported sexual harassment.

(The following is taken from the "Chicago Women in Trades" website)

OCCUPATIONAL SEGREGATION

The primary cause of the Wage Gap is occupational segregation, the clustering of women in low wage jobs. The labor force is sharply divided by sex, and this occupational segregation contributes to women's poverty. In 1997 only 14% of working women were employed in nontraditional jobs.

Traditional Jobs for Women

Occupation	% Female	Wages
Secretary	98.6	$14.19
Receptionist	95.5	$10.52
Hairdressers/Cosmetologists	90.8	$10.17
Nursing aids	89.9	$8.60
Waitress	77.4	$6.55
Cashiers	77	$8.16

Nontraditional Jobs for Women

Occupation	% Female	Wages
Machinist	5.6	$16.90
Truck drivers	4.9	$17.50
Aircraft engine mechanics	4.2	$24.78
Construction trades	2.5	$12.03 - $30.99
Automobile mechanics	1.4	$17.31
Heavy equipment mechanics	1.2	$19.65

American women will continue to find that their wages are low and that they are unable to support themselves or their families unless substantial numbers of working women are able to gain access to a wider range of occupations. The segregation of women in a few low-paying occupations contributes to the gap between the earnings of men, and presents a barrier to economic self-sufficiency for the majority of working women.

LIFETIME DIFFERENCE IN EARNINGS

Traditional	Non-Traditional
Child care worker	Journeylevel electrician
$8.71 per hour	$27.22 per hour
$18,117 per year	$56,618 per year
$543,510 in 30 years	$1,698,540 in 30 years
Difference: $1,698,540 - $543,510 = $1,155,030

WOMEN IN NONTRADITIONAL, BLUE-COLLAR CAREERS

The majority of women continue to be segregated into 20 out of 440 occupations.1 School and unemployment services often fail to explore nontraditional careers with women and girls. Not knowing all of their options, they choose traditional female dominated careers, because they are familiar with them. Unlike traditional female dominated careers, blue-collar careers in the manufacturing, construction and transportation sectors of the economy offer wages and benefits that lead to economic self-sufficiency.

Percentage of women working in nontraditional, blue collar careers in 2000

Carpenters 1.7%
Plumbers and Pipefitters 1.3%
Firefighter 3.0%
Skilled Manufacturing 2.1%

Why women want to work in these careers

Better Pay. Nontraditional careers pay more - 20-30% more AND better benefits than traditional female careers.
Career Advancement. Nontraditional careers have established career ladders to provide women with the opportunity to advance and earn higher wages and benefits.
Freedom. Nontraditional careers provide women with greater autonomy, the opportunity to work with their hands, and higher job satisfaction by expanding career opportunities.
Women are Good At It. Smaller hands and body structures often make women better equipped to work with small parts and in little compartments.

Women who choose nontraditional careers may need additional training and often face barriers to entry.

Need Training. Women are often unfamiliar with how to use tools and read blueprints.
Careers Unknown. Women do not have the opportunity to explore non-traditional careers. These positions are also not advertised in newspapers and in employment centers.
Need Sponsors. Many apprenticeship programs require apprentices to be sponsored by employers or others in the field.
Hostile Worksites. Women are isolated and often discriminated against.
Sexual Harassment. Women often work by pictures and drawings of naked women, are submitted to unwelcome sexual remarks or advances.

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WiCC provides the continued support needed to break through the institutional sexism women are faced with. Women involved with WiCC are doing it because they believe in the project and want it to succeed.

Read "Hanging In, Solo," from the book "Poems from the Construction Site" by Susan Eisenberg

"Women should have equal pay for equal work and they should be considered equally eligible to the offices of principal and superintendent, professor and president. So you must insist that qualifications, not sex, shall govern appointments and salaries."
Susan B Anthony,