Today, March 31, marks Equal Pay Day 2020. This date is significant and symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what their white male counterpart earned in the previous year. The gender wage gap in Ohio is the 15th worst in the nation. In Ohio, women earn 81 cents to every dollar earned by a man. This is worse for women of color. That’s why the Columbus Women’s Commission continues to focus on this issue, growing the Columbus Commitment through new adopters and offering resources and support for addressing the gender and race-based wage gap. We understand the fight to close pay disparities between men and women must include women of all races and we must continue to work toward 100% pay equity by not only starting the conversation but taking action - at work and with employers, as well as within our own homes and local communities.
The current pandemic has shown the vulnerability of lower-wage workers, a majority of whom are women. Lower-wage workers are less likely to have paid sick leave, the flexibility to “not work,” access to stable child care, etc. Additionally, in times like these is when we see the stark reality of the disparities in the earnings of women compared to men as often women are more economically insecure in times such as these. Right now we are seeing the impacts of the gender wealth gap that is exasperated by the wage gap.
The Gender Wealth Gap: Single women on average, own 40 cents to every dollar owned by a single male. Without savings and wealth, families struggle to make ends meet during an emergency. Read more HERE.
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Intersectionality is the theory that a person’s different social identities can create unique intersections of discrimination or privilege depending on how society views their various identities. For example, in American society, a white woman whose first language is not English and a black man who uses a wheelchair each face unique challenges functioning in society due to their intersection of complex identities. Women are often discriminated against in the workplace, intentionally or unintentionally. On top of gender bias, women can face discrimination based on race, nationality, first language, sexuality, disability, family status, veteran status, and many other social identities. While viewing pay equity through a gender lens, it is vital to also remember that identities other than gender may also have an affect on how women are treated and paid and keep that in consideration
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Women of Color & Wage Gap: On average, Black women earn only 64 cents for every dollar a man earns, while Latinas earn only 54 cents. We point this out and raise awareness around intersectionality, so that we are aware of how layers of identities impact individuals.
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Women of Color & Wealth Gap: The gender wealth gap, similar to the wage gap is worse for women of color. Latinas own only 4 cents to every dollar and Black own only 2 cents to every dollar owned by a single man.
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Transgender Women: Transgender women experience a 32% decline in earning after they transition. Due to high unemployment rate, nearly one-third (29%) of transgender people live in poverty compared to 12% in the U.S. population.
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Formerly Incarcerated Women: Formerly incarcerated women have an unemployment rate of 33%, and more than half report no earnings at all.
- Formerly incarcerated Black women have an unemployment rate nearly twice of formerly incarcerated white women, 43.6% and 23.2%, respectively.
As we go forward, it is more important now than ever for us all to do our part and explore solutions and strategies to improve the long-term economic security of women and families. Together we can build a more equitable Columbus.
We know that many things have changed and although we may not be together to raise conversations on this important day, there are many opportunities to bring awareness to the gender and race-based wage gap issue - see how you can join us and take action, too!
- Donate supplies or volunteer at local organizations (due to COVID-19, many of these organizations have suspended in-person volunteer opportunities for the safety of the community) Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Mid-Ohio Food Collective: COVID-19 Updates and Resources | Mid-Ohio Food Collective | Foodbank | Farm | Farmacy | Kitchen | Market | A hunger-free and healthier community
- YWCA of Central Ohio: https://www.ywcacolumbus.org/important-covid-19-update/
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The Columbus Early Learning Centers are in need of donations for families, including: diapers & pull-ups, wipes, formula, baby food, non-perishable food, dreft, clorox wipes, paper towels, toilet paper, tissues and cleaning supplies, and Kroger gift cards.
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Freedom a la Cart is seeking distribution and funding partners to provide sack lunches to feed our city’s most vulnerable. Reach out to order@freedomalacart.org
- Be a Social Media Ambassador –as part of a national effort, The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) has launched an Equal Pay Day Campaign.
- Join the Social Media storm today. Don’t forget to use #equalpayday #womenofcbus!
- Find materials on IWPR’s website
- Learn more about Equal Pay Day and how to play a part HERE.
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On March 18, Mayor Andrew J. Ginther declared a State of Emergency for the City of Columbus and Governor DeWine issued a Stay-at-Home for all Ohioans beginning March 24. While these mandates are both important and necessary actions in the effort to contain and stop the coronavirus outbreak, it has also left many individuals unemployed and small businesses having to close their doors, impacting women in higher numbers.
While coronavirus has had serious impacts on most Americans’ daily lives, it is particularly impactful for women, who are disproportionately represented in low-wage jobs, the service industry and typically the primary caregiver for dependents in their household. It is important to remember how crucial gender equity is in all circumstances, as those who are vulnerable in the best of times are typically the most at risk in hard times as well.
These are uncertain times for everyone, and we want to ensure you get the latest updates from the city regarding its response and you are aware of the resources available to you as employers and to your employees. Here are some helpful places to start:
- Follow the mayor @MayorGinther and the city @ColumbusGov on twitter, or look to the city’s Facebook page, “City of Columbus – City Hall” for the latest updates regarding COVID-19 policies and best practices in central Ohio.
- The City of Columbus has created a Crisis Response Center detailing resources and updated information, which you can find here.
- The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio launched a page in response to COVID-19, where they have listed resources and ways to help. Find this HERE.
- Columbus City Schools, along with other districts are providing meals for children impacted by school closures. Find more information HERE.
- Small business? The Women’s Small Business Accelerator has created The Business Crisis Team to help. Learn more HERE.
- Children’s Hunger Alliance is helping feed children who are losing access to meals as a result of the coronavirus crisis. Stay updated HERE.
- Get familiar with Ohio’s one stop resource for updates related to COVID-19.
Here is a list of FAQs for Ohio school districts, posted by the Ohio Department of Education.
The emergence of the COVID-19 virus has impacted the lives of nearly everyone. Without much advance notice or planning, schools have closed in many states, employees have been asked to work from home, those who cannot work from home face potential exposure to the coronavirus, reduced work hours, or job loss. For many women, particularly those with children at home, the coronavirus pandemic has given new urgency to many of the challenges that they have long been confronting. Women are more likely low-wage earners and more likely to be the primary caretakers and in charge of health care responsibilities in their families. The wage gap is more important and prevalent than ever, as this pandemic impacts women’s economic security at larger rates.
Women are almost half of the workforce. They are the sole or co-breadwinner in half of American families with children. Yet, on average, women continue to earn considerably less than men. According to IWPR research, if change continues at the same slow pace as it has done for the past fifty years, it will take almost 40 years—or until 2059—for women to finally reach pay parity.
Breaking common wage gap myths:
MYTH: Women are less educated so they are paid less
FACT: Women have been graduating from college at higher rates than men for decades. But diplomas don’t translate to dollars: The wage gap actually increases for women at higher education levels.
MYTH: Women often pursue jobs that are historically lower paying jobs.
FACT: Women are just as likely to pursue many high-paying careers. But even in the same job, women are generally paid less than men. For example, women managers earn 23% less than men managers, on average.
FACT:Despite increased labor force participation among women the gender wage gap persists, even in the occupations that are predominantly women. Read more HERE.
FACT: Research shows that when women join an industry in large numbers, pay goes down. For example, wages in parks and recreation dropped by 57 percentage points as the field went from predominantly men to women workers.
MYTH: Women can negotiate raises, they just don’t try like men do.
FACT: Women are asking for promotions and negotiating for raises at the same rates as men. They are just not getting them.
Closing the wage gap isn’t just a win for women—it has social and economic benefits too. If women were paid fairly, we could cut the poverty rate in half and add $512.6 billion into the U.S. economy.
Our Part in Closing the Gap:
Currently our community has banded together to support one another in an unprecedented time. However, we need to continue to support one another. The fight for pay equity and equal pay does not stop after today, or next month or next year. The fight for pay equity and equal pay continues and there are many steps that employers can take to decrease the wage gap. Employers should focus on ensuring that women have employment, promotion, and pay increase opportunities that are equal to those of their male peers. Three strategies organizations should focus on to help shrink the wage gap include:
Uplifting women of color – paying specific attention to the barriers women of color face when it comes to career advancement and proactively involving woc in hiring and promotion processes
Quick Tips For Individuals In the Workplace:
How To Be Better Allies To Women Of Color At Work
Women of Color Get Less Support at Work. Here’s How Managers Can Change That
6 Ways To Really Support Women Of Color
10 Rules of Success For Women of Color at Work
How Women of Color Get to Senior Management
An In-Depth Look At the Experience Of Women of Color In the Workplace:
An Interview With Minda Harts About Her Experience as a Black Woman in Corporate America
Lower Pay, More Harassment: How Work In America Failed Women Of Color In the 2010s
Suggestions For Organizations to Improve the Prospects of Women of Color in the Workplace:
Policy Solutions for Increasing Women of Color in Leadership
Want Your Company To Be Great For Women & Diversity? Do This.
Williams Lea
Columbus Commitment adopters are stepping up to help in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic. Nonprofits in the area are seeing an increase in need from the community, so while their revenues are decreasing due to canceled events and economic turmoil, their expenses are growing as they attempt to serve the community in this time of need. The Columbus Foundation and the United Way of Central Ohio have both announced that they are setting up special funds to help finance local COVID-19 recovery efforts. Both organizations are working hard to ensure that the economic downturn that the pandemic is causing will not stop Columbus nonprofits from continuing the good work that they do, which is more important now than ever. Read more here
The Franklin County Municipal Court has put a hold on eviction hearings for the next eight weeks. Currently there are more than 850 eviction cases pending and more are expected to be added to that list as more and more people lose their jobs due to the global health crisis, COVID-19. It is estimated that between 40-50 percent of renters live on low income and losing a job is devastating to their ability to make ends meet. Amidst this pandemic one of the biggest fears renters have right now is being kicked out of their home. That cannot happen in Franklin County because of what the court has decided to do. Read more HERE. If you feel like your rights are being abused as a renter you can check out the Legal Aid Society of Columbus’ website HERE.
Countless other adopters are also leading the fight to combat COVID-19 while still serving central Ohio in a number of ways. Thank you to all of our adopters for adapting to the crisis and maintaining the strength of the Columbus community.
This year’s Equal Pay Day is more important than ever to understand the issue and the many barriers that impact women’s economic security. Policies at both the national and local levels are being passed in an effort to support the workforce, but we need to ensure we continue to create and pass policies supporting women and families.
National:
On March 18, 2020, The “Families First Coronavirus Response Act” (H.R. 6201) has passed the Senate and was signed by President Donald Trump. This Act requires certain employers to provide employees with expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19. The Department of Labor’s (Department) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) administers and enforces the new law’s paid leave requirements. Read more HERE and HERE.
Local:
Last week the Franklin County Commissioners approved $1 million for businesses facing closure and residents facing the loss of a job due to the coronavirus pandemic. The funding will be split between the Economic & Community Development Institute, a Columbus-based nonprofit group that oversees micro-enterprise revolving-loan funds for small businesses and the county’s Workforce Development Board to provide $250 stipends to residents who have been laid off because of coronavirus-related shutdowns. The total funds involved are mostly dollars already in the county’s larger 2020 budget, plus federal community-development block-grant money not yet allocated to specific programs. Read more HERE.
City Council approved $1 million in emergency support for local families. These funds will be used to support families in need of housing or food assistance. Read more on the City’s website HERE.
Mayor Andrew J. Ginther declared a State of Emergency for the City of Columbus. This allows him to move quickly to acquire needed supplies, order city employees to stay home, and more. Read more HERE.
The Coronavirus Pandemic and the Racial Wealth Gap.
A new brief released by the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and the Center for American Progress highlights the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the harms that lack of wealth and our persistent and unjust racial wealth gap has disproportionately left Black, Brown and other low asset communities uninsured or underinsured and with fewer financial resources and employment benefits with which to weather this public health and economic emergency. Finally, the brief lists some immediate action that needs to be taken along with structural changes to ensure that the necessary health and economic infrastructure is in place the next time the country faces a pandemic or looming disaster stemming from climate insecurity. Read more HERE.
As March comes to an end, with that comes the end of Women’s History Month. But do not let that be the end of your continued engagement with women’s issues! There are several more equal pay days to observe throughout the year, including mothers’ equal pay day on June 4, black women’s equal day on August 13, Native American women’s equal pay day on October 1, and Latina women’s equal pay day on November 2. In the meantime, try one or more of these steps to continue learning about pay equity
Primary Voting in Ohio-What it looks like now
The Ohio General Assembly acted to extend absentee mail-in voting for the Ohio Primary through April 28th. There will be NO in-person voting. Ballots must be postmarked and mailed in before April 27th or dropped off by 7:30pm on April 28th to your local Board of Elections. They will be counted by May 8th. Check your voter registrations status HERE
If you have not voted yet, you can request a ballot by:
- Visiting www.voteohio.org
- Calling your local Board of Elections: Find your County Board of Elections here.
How it Works:
- You will receive a blank absentee ballot request form in the mail
- Or, you can print out your request form HERE
- Fill out the request form and return it to your local Board of Elections.
- The Board of Elections will then mail you your ballot.
- Fill out the ballot.
- Mail your ballot back or drop it off at your local Board of Elections.
- Ballots must be postmarked and mailed in before April 27th or dropped off by 7:30pm on April 28th to your local Board of Elections.
You can find a helpful FAQ sheet HERE.
Columbus Counts: 2020 Census
The official Census Day is TOMORROW on April 1, 2020! We know this is an unprecedented and unknown time but it is more important now than ever to make sure YOU are counted. Our communities receiving funds that are being passed at a national level depend on how we are counted!
Franklin County residents will be counted through the summer of 2020 and it is critical for every person in our community to be counted. The federal government uses census data to fund programs that women and families rely on. Over $33.5 billion in federal spending is allocated to Ohio per year based on 2010 Census data for programs like: Medicaid, Medicare, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, WIC (Women, Infants, and Children), school lunches, SNAP, Head Start, and so many more programs. Simply put, for every person not counted in Ohio, that’s $1,814 lost per year for a decade in federal funding.
To ensure a complete count, Mayor Andrew J. Ginther and Franklin County Commissioner Kevin L. Boyce created Columbus Counts to build census awareness and ensure a complete count. Columbus Counts is made a diverse group of trusted community, government, and private sector leaders organizing a campaign to count everyone.
Are you interested in learning more about how you can help communicate that the census is safe, easy, and important?
Contact the City’s census coordinator Doug Murray (DDMurray@columbus.gov) to get involved or learn more!
Treasury, IRS and Labor announce plan to implement Coronavirus-related paid leave for workers and tax credits for small and midsize businesses to swiftly recover the cost of providing Coronavirus-related leave
Utilities temporarily suspend non-payment disconnections during coronavirus outbreak
Coronavirus: Cameron Mitchell closes all restaurants, creates relief fund for 4,500 laid-off workers
Columbus Crew SC owners donating $1.5 million to coronavirus relief funds
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