Droves of women — and a few men — went to the Rackham Graduate School Amphitheater Tuesday to hear why the nation needs a women’s economic agenda.
Nancy Duff Campbell, co-president of the National Women’s Law Center, spoke to these students, faculty and visitors as part of the Visiting Social Activist program sponsored by the University’s Center for Education of Women. The presentation was followed by a Q&A and a reception at Rackham.
Throughout her lecture, Campbell focused on the ways that gender stereotypes, unreasonable and unpredictable hours in low wage jobs and inadequate government and employer response support for pregnant workers negatively affect women’s ability to succeed in the workplace.
Campbell drew much of her lecture on research and statistics gathered by both the National Women’s Law Center and government agencies such as the Census Bureau.
“Giving women the chance to have their voices heard in American workplaces is key to their economic security and the economic security of American families,” Campbell said. “And ensuring this economic security is why we need a women’s economic agenda.”
Campbell also emphasized the correlation between poverty and gender. According to her research, 59 percent of poor children live in families headed by women. She also said more than three-quarters of workers in the 10 largest low-wage occupations are women and over one-third are women of color.
Some employees refuse to provide accommodation for pregnancy-related needs such as requesting a chair when working as a cashier but are willing to accommodate other work related needs such as a temporary injury from playing soccer the previous weekend, Campbell said.
She added only 12 percent of workers have access to paid family leave from their employer and more than 40 million workers don’t have paid sick days. The Family Medical Leave Act also doesn’t cover workers in companies with under 50 employees, meaning 50 percent of all workers go without these benefits, she said.
Campbell said more than one in five mothers would get a raise if the federal minimum wage went up to $10.10. Though raising the minimum wage would affect many low wage workers, she said it would affect over 15 million women specifically who are supporting their families on low-wage jobs.
Campbell concluded the lecture by explaining ways to improve women’s economic agenda. She advocated specifically for the Paycheck Fairness Act, which is designed to close loopholes in the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 and will help prevent further pay discrimination between men and women.
She also discussed the Strong Start for America’s Children Act, which will fund education programs for children from birth-to-age-five as well as the Fair Minimum Wage Act. She said she believes will not only provide low wage with a more reasonable pay but will help closer the gender pay gap and end up putting more money back into the economy.
Campbell also emphasized the importance of collective bargaining and union membership.
“Women in unions not only earn more, they are paid more equally. Among union members the wage gap between women and men is half the size of the gap between women and men who are not union members,” Campbell said. “Collective bargaining also empowers women and men to have a voice in the work hours, their scheduling practices, time off so they can better attend to both their work and family responsibilities.”
Several students in various women’s studies classes at the University were in attendance, and expressed interest at the real-world application of concepts they’d discussed in class.
The event was co-sponsored by the Center for the Education of Women, the Ford School of Public Policy, the Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning, the LSA Women’s Studies Department, the Michigan Journal of Gender and Law, Rackham Office of Graduate Student Success and the Social Work Learning Community on Poverty and Inequality.
“I was surprised that it’s so frequently considered a women’s issue but a lot of stuff she talked about was about was low wage jobs and poverty issues,” said Leia Squillace, a Music, Theatre & Dance junior. “As excited as I am about the thought of pay equality among genders, I think the more underlying issue that really needs to focused on is the wage inequality overall, not solely between genders.”
Campbell will be on campus for one more week to complete her month working on her paper and time as part of the Visiting Social Activist program.