Millennial gender pessimism

About 75% of young women believe the US needs to do more to bring about equality in the workplace,images-1 a new study finds, despite a narrowing pay gap and steady employment gains for women at higher levels of business and government, reports an article in The guardian today.

“Those women remain as pessimistic as their mothers and grandmothers regarding gender equality in the workplace, according to the report released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.

“The study finds that women under 32 now make 93% of what young men earn, aided by women’s higher rates of college completion. But the analysis of census and labor data also shows the gender pay gap will widen for women by their mid-30s, if the experience of the past three decades is a guide.

“That widening gap is due in part to the many women who take time off or reduce their hours to start families. Other factors cited in the report are gender stereotyping, discrimination, weaker professional networks and women’s hesitancy to aggressively push for raises and promotions, which together may account for 20% to 40% of the pay gap.

“Even so, just 15% of young women say they have been discriminated against because of their gender. Continue reading “Millennial gender pessimism”

Harsh workplace realities for transgender Americans

Transgender workers are up against alarming inequities in the American workplace today, states the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

“Facing difficulty finding and keeping good jobs, accessing benefits and obtaining health insurance, according to a new report from the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), the National Center for Transgender Equity (NCTE), the Center for American Progress (CAP) and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), all SEIU partner organizations.

“The study, “A Broken Bargain for Transgender Workers,”notes that transgender workers report unemployment at twice the rate of the population as a whole (14 percent versus 7 percent); nearly half of transgender people who are working are underemployed; and transgender workers are nearly four times more likely than the population as a whole to have a household income of under $10,000.

“Examples of transgender discrimination range from wage disparities and the inability to update identity documents to denial of promotions and unfair firing.

“Workplace fairness means more than freedom from harassment; it means equal access to the benefits that transgender employees need to live healthy and productive lives,” said Winnie Stachelberg, executive vice president of external affairs at CAP.

“This new report underscores the harsh reality of what it means to live and work as a transgender person in this country,” said Mara Keisling, executive director of NCTE.SEIU members at the union’s 25th Convention in Denver last year unanimously approved a resolution calling on local unions to bargain for trans-inclusive health care. Other partners supporting the report are Freedom to Work, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Out and Equal Workplace Advocates.”

 

More at: http://www.seiu.org/2013/09/harsh-reality-of-workplaces-for-transgender-americ.php

This week in workplace discrimination

Fifteen percent of U.S. working women say they have at some point felt passed over for a promotion or opportunity at work because of their gender, while 85% say they have never felt that way, according to a Gallup report released today.

“These perceptions are similar by age, educational attainment, and employment in a professional or non-professional job.

“Republican women and conservative women are slightly less likely than all other groups of women to feel they

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have been passed over for a promotion due to their gender. They are also less likely to have felt gender discrimination in obtaining raises. Liberal women are the only group to perceive more gender discrimination in both promotions and raises than their demographic or socioeconomic counterparts. Together, these findings reveal that there may be some political or ideological issues at play in perceptions of gender fairness in the workplace.

“Thirteen percent of U.S. working women say they feel they have been denied a raise due to their gender. But again, the vast majority of working women do not see this as an issue.

“These data, from Gallup’s annual Work and Education survey, conducted Aug. 7-11, 2013, highlight workplace gender issues that have been feverishly debated recently — especially in the media. However, the data reveal that most women do not perceive that they have been a victim of gender bias at work when it comes to promotions and raises in particular.

“When Gallup asked working men the same questions, they were much less likely to say they felt they were denied a promotion or raise because of their gender. Eight percent of working men feel their gender has prevented them from getting a promotion and 4% believe they have been denied a raise for the same reason. Thus, this phenomenon is something that disproportionately affects women. Continue reading “This week in workplace discrimination”