The term “working mother” may be redundant, but the fact is more and more women are entering the workforce while they still have young children at home. Whether they do so out of choice or necessity, they still face gender-based disparities in the workplace. While the wage gap has narrowed, it is very much a reality. Another disparity – the number of employers offering maternity leave is on the decline. Congress has taken some steps to rectify the situation for working women, but more needs to be done.
One of those steps was to implement the Family Medical Leave Act in 1993, which requires companies with 50 or more employees to allow 12 weeks of leave to care for a new child. Whether or not those weeks are paid is up to the company. Not so in much of the rest of the world.
The Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based group, recently compared the maternity leave benefits of 19 of the world’s modern countries, including the U.S., that have comparable per capita incomes. The U.S., which ranks last, is the only country on the list that does not require any paid maternity leave. Great Britain leads the pack with nearly 40 weeks of paid leave and another dozen or so weeks of unpaid leave. Even New Zealand, which ranks next-to-last, guarantees nearly ten weeks of paid leave.
Another study by the Families and Work Institute (a New York-based advocacy group) shows a decline in the percentage of employers who offer 6 weeks of paid maternity leave – down to 16 percent from 27 percent just a decade ago. The same report did show some improvements, like an increase in the percentage of companies that offer flexible work hours, domestic partner benefits, and a private space for nursing moms. Not surprisingly, companies that have more women in top positions tend to offer more flexibility in the workplace.
As for the wage gap, working women can expect it to grow as they age. It’s also wider for women with a college degree than for women without. Minority women can add the race pay gap on top of that. A recent study by the Southwest Women’s Law Center paints a grimmer picture for working women in New Mexico. While white women earn, on average, 70 cents for every dollar a white man earns, African-American, Native-American and Hispanic women all earn less than 60 cents. Women are also more likely to live in poverty than men in every county except McKinley and Los Alamos – the poorest and wealthiest counties, respectively. Oddly enough, although poverty is lowest in Los Alamos County, the wage gap there is the highest in the state. Aside from the wage gap, higher poverty rates for women are also due in part to the fact that woman are more likely to be single parents than men.
New Mexico is one of 11 states that have no laws regarding pay equity – yet. The Southwest Women’s Law Center released their study on National Equal Pay Day (which is in April), in conjunction with Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish who announced a state fair pay initiative. This is particularly important because the federal Fair Pay Restoration Act had just recently been quashed in the U.S. Senate.
So far, only three states have passed laws requiring employers to provide some paid family leave, but New Mexico is not among them. We do, however, have a state law requiring employers to provide space and flexible break time for nursing mothers to pump breast milk. Representative Danice Picraux led the fight for that important initiative. Hopefully, more such legislation will help put working women and mothers on equal footing with their male counterparts. Please support those initiatives and the lawmakers – many of them working mothers themselves – who sponsor them.
Bill Jordan is the father of two (grown) kids – one of whom is a working mother – and the Policy Director for New Mexico Voices for Children.
© NM KIDS magazine
