Pay Equity Updates

While Fair Pay Day has come and gone, the issue remains. AAUW Washington Update has cited several news items of late that you should be aware of.

Department of Labor Announces Top 20 Fields for Women According to a recent report by the Department of Labor, secretaries, administrative assistants, and registered nurses are the nation's leading occupations for employed women.  Among the 20 fields listed, findings show a lack of women in non-traditional, STEM careers, as well as a median salary of $657 per week for women 16 years and older.

Federal Government Not Hiring As Many Women According to a new report by Federally Employed Women, the number of women in top positions within the federal workforce is much lower than that of men. While that number nearly doubled between 1992 and 2003, there has been relatively no change since 2006. The report cites a lack of training and cross-training as major reasons for the lack of women in top positions, and that training funds are typically cut under budget restraints.  Thus, in today's economic climate, women are provided fewer opportunities to advance to top federal positions.

Wage Gap in Academic Medicine Women in academic medicine earn significantly less than their male counterparts, according to a study released in April's Academic Medicine. Researchers sampled at random 3,000 life science employees at the top 50 academic medical centers funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) looking to explain the gender wage gap.  The study found that over a 30 year period, full-time female faculty members made almost $215,000 less than men of equal standing, and nearly $700,000 less over a full career.  Professors Eric Campbell, PhD, and Catherine DesRoches, DrPh, have linked their work on the study with the need for a systematic change in the field.

The Harvard Business Review has  a quick slide show Investigating the Pay Gap by Sarah Green.

AAUW's Washington Update is emailed to subscribers every Friday. It covers the Washington developments related to AAUW Public Policy issues. Washington update is another benefit of your AAUW membership; you can subscribe to it here.

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• Gender Gaps Persist in Pay st Academic Medical Centers (nlm.nih.gov)
• Female Researchers Paid Less than Males: Study (abcnews.go.com)
• A Live Webcast of Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (womensbioethics.blogspot.com)