Tonight I went to a fantastic lecture at one of my favorite places in Colorado called The Lab. They are holding this great series of lectures called Feminism + Co. Tonight’s topic was women and work. There were three speakers and all were wonderful, but for this post I wanted to focus on the lecture given by Gretchen McComb from The Women’s Foundation of Colorado. She discussed The Cliff Effect, a term used to describe the paradox faced by low-wage workers. The poverty level is considered three times the cost of food; however, this poverty level does not account for basic needs of those with children. The foundation opperates based not off of the standard poverty level, but off of the self-sufficiency standard that includes things like transportation and child care. According to the studies done by the foundation 20% of Colorado households earn below the self-sufficiency standard; while 54% of single mothers earn less than the standard.
Low-wage workers often qualify for “work support” benefits such as food stamps, child care and children’s health insurance. However, if the worker earns more money these benefits are quickly terminated resulting in the worker (and their children) worse off than before the wage increase. If you check out the report offered by the foundation you will see stories of women who have been affected by the cliff effect and a variety of graphs that illustrate the loss of benefits even with an increase of wage. The Cliff Effect can cause women to reject raises and promotions, so as not to lose the benefits necessary to maintain their children’s safety.
These issues disproportionately affect women of color: “While families with less education are more likely to have inadequate income, race and gender are more important predictors of inadequate income than educational level. For example, white men with high school degrees are more likely to have adequate income than women of color with a bachelor’s degree or higher.” From “Overlooked and Undercounted: Struggling to Make Ends Meet in Colorado” report that is available on the Women’s Foundation website.
Issues of economic inequality between men and women are not improving. With the recent supreme court case of Ledbetter v. Goodyear, proving pay discrimination based on gender or race is more difficult than ever. Thanks to Alito and Roberts, pay discrimination must be proved within 180 day charging period of the first pay check. All I can say to that one is FUCK YOU SUPREME COURT with the exclusion of Justice Ginsburg. This type of case-law supports pay discrimination and protects the interests of corporations rather than workers. Luckily The Wage Transparency Act is on Colorado Legislature. More legislation like this needs to be pushed.
The overall theme of the evening’s lectures seemed to be centered around the need for women to help out other women in the workplace. Dr. Pamela W. Laird, professor at CU Denver and author of Pull: Networking and Success Since Benjamin Franklin, discussed issues of women networking in the corporate world. Women need to cut the competition and focus on collective action. In a white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy we need to find solidarity and support each other. If we don’t then we become victimized by a system that alienates women. Women who are privileged need to fight for the rights of women who are not. The voices of working women who are so often invisible in our society need to be heard. The systematic failings of our society need to fixed to meet the needs of all people, especially working mothers.
