Fifty years ago, job listings in the newspaper were categorized by gender, and those that paid best were found under the headline “Help Wanted — Male.” In the 1960s, women elevated job segregation and pay discrimination into national civil rights issues, leading to the passage of the Equal Pay Act in 1963. This federal law was the result of relentless documentation, consciousness raising and agitation by women, many of whom were determined to regain economic ground lost by the displacement of millions of “Rosie the Riveters” from good jobs following the end of World War II.
But the Equal Pay Act quickly proved insufficient. Employers continued to pay women less than men to perform equivalent work. Emboldened by the women’s movement, women from many different employment sectors filed 50,000 complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. When the agency failed to respond, a group of 28 women came together to form a new organization to work to persuade government and business leaders to prioritize economic justice for women — the National Organization for Women (NOW).
In addition to vast improvements in equal pay for equal work, women have gradually but consistently increased their overall earnings relative to men’s. Over the past 30 years, women’s earning power has risen with their overall gains in education and inroads into trades and professions traditionally dominated by men. The wage gap between women and men was 59 cents for every dollar in 1963, and 77 cents by 2002.
In California, women’s wages are now 80 percent of men’s. Women advocates, policymakers, scholars and grassroots organizers are at the forefront of new organizations, coalitions and movements that are advancing a vision of economic equity that reaches far beyond gender parity. Regional equity, for example, is an integrated approach to economic development that calls for linking economic development with public transportation planning, affordable housing, environmental sustainability and meaningful participation by local community leaders in decision making. The goal is to ensure that growth and justice go hand in hand, a “double bottom line” solidified by community organizing that ensures accountability. LA Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), a grant partner of the Women’s Foundation of California, is among 11 organizations pioneering regional equity strategies.
LAANE’s leadership was critical in winning passage of a $500 million Community Benefi ts Agreement designed to support the environmental health and economic well-being of the communities most affected by the Los Angeles International Airport expansion project. Throughout the state, women are taking a stand to address the greatest equity challenge of our time: the widening gap between the wealthy and the poor.
Here are some examples of Women’s Foundation grant partners who are doing this work:
At Centro Mujer in Ventura County, immigrant women develop their leadership skills to defend their rights to a living wage and call for the enforcement of health and safety protections. The Center on Policy Initiatives helped spearhead the campaign for a Living Wage Ordinance in San Diego. Passed in 29 regions across the state, each Living Wage Ordinance directly benefits thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, of women workers. WAGES is an eco-friendly house cleaning cooperative operated by immigrant women in Oakland. The program assists low-income women by helping them develop business plans and build the assets they need to run microenterprises.
- OpNet Community Ventures is helping women to become economically self-sufficient through job training in higher-wage sectors, such as computer technology and biotechnology.
- Tradeswomen Inc. has helped apprentice and journey tradeswomen to advance in their jobs through access to training, peer networking and support resources.
As progress toward broader, more ambitious economic equity goals continues, women who work in many different regions, sectors and movements have the opportunity to join forces to pass statewide policies that build upon the strategies illustrated above to expand long-term economic security for more Californians.
