Women's eNews (https://womensenews.org/tag/economyeconomic-policy-labor/)
While the media and research have recently focused on deconstructing female breadwinners, the reality is that their stories are more complex, says Liz O’Donnell in this excerpt from “Mogul, Mom, and Maid: The Balancing Art of the Modern Woman.”
As I write this, I am humming the late Donna Summer’s hit “She Works Hard for the Money” and remembering the scenes from the video, featuring a middle-age single mother, an everywoman, scrubbing floors, waiting tables, running a machine in a garment factory, feeding her preteen kids and falling into bed exhausted.
Table 1: The Wage Gap in the 20 Most Common Occupations for Women
(Full-Time Workers Only), 2011
Ultrasounds and welfare drug-testing are just two of this week’s news issues that could stoke the fire under HERVotes, a coalition of 50 women’s rights groups formed in August that is announcing a major voter-mobilization effort today.
The blockbuster movie “Contagion” reminds the public how quickly germs can spread. While the film is fictional, a lack of paid sick days can contribute to similar scenarios, says Ellen Bravo. A short web video exemplifies the risks.
Right smack dab in the middle of Women’s History Month we’ve been treated to the spectacle of Wisconsin’s new GOP Gov. Scott Walker taking apart public-sector workers’ bargaining rights and women’s labor gains in the process.
Secure Communities is the name of an expanding federal immigration program to deport convicts living in the U.S. illegally. Immigrant advocates say it’s undermining a federal law that protects crime victims from having to reveal their citizenship status.
It’s great that Connecticut is about to become the first state to mandate paid sick days for workers. But what about all the other states? Paid sick leave is a worker’s basic right and more politicians need to be saying that, says Allison Stevens.
A federal program to create jobs for low-income people during the recession could run out if Congress doesn’t extend it by Aug. 9. Leading congressional champion Jim McDermott says women in particular could be hurt if Congress doesn’t act.
The recession is causing the paperwork to pile up. For transgender people this is particularly tough. Every application for work or government assistance contains the possibility of probing and intrusive questions of sexual identity.