Today is International Women’s Day was established in the early 1900’s to raise awareness of Women’s rights and issues around the world. With the technology we have today, it is much easier to address and raise that awareness. However, things still do not remain equal when it comes to gender bias, especially in the workplace.

Here are some statistics about women in the workplace that you may not know:

1. It will take at least 100 years to close the wage gap between men & women in the US (money.cnn.com)
2. As of Dec. 2017, the US fell to spot #49 in equal pay (mainly due to companies that don’t provide paid maternity leave) (www.pewresearch.org)
3. Over 42% have experienced gender discrimination at work
4. Over 22% of women say they have been sexually harassed at work
5. 1 in 2 women experience discrimination as a result of being on maternity leave or after.
6. For every dollar a male makes, women earn approximately 80 cents (or less if they are a female minority) (equal payback project).
7. More than 1 in 8 women live in poverty.

Now for a little bit better news (kind of):

• In 2017, Women outnumber men for the first time in college: 56% to 44% men (US Dept of Education).
• There is a substantial effort being made in education for empowering girls
• Women are Integral to Today’s Workforce
  • There are 74.6 million women in the civilian labor force.
  • Almost 47 percent of U.S. workers are women.
  • More than 39 percent of women work in occupations where women make up at least three-quarters of the workforce.
  • Women own close to 10 million businesses, accounting for $1.4 trillion in receipts.
  • Female veterans tend to continue their service in the labor force: About 3 out of 10 serve their country as government workers.

 

• Trends in Women’s Employment  over Time
  • Women’s participation in the U.S. labor force has climbed since WWII: from 32.7 percent in 1948 to 56.8 percent in 2016.
  • The range of occupations women workers hold has also expanded, with women making notable gains in professional and managerial occupations. In 2016, more than one in three lawyers was a woman compared to fewer than 1 in 10 in 1974.
  • The unemployment rate for women is currently 4.8 percent, down from a peak of 9.0 percent in November 2010. (Source)

 

There’s still a lot of work to do and each one of us can step in to help another woman. Mentoring, supporting, encouraging women should be a duty for all of us! We can start easily:

1. start at home – encourage your daughters with positive role models (no, I’m not talking about Pilot Barbie, but about learning about a REAL person like Amelia Earhart).
2. start in your community – join a positive role model group like the Community of Christian Business Women in OKC!
3. start at work – meet with women, build peer relationships and succession plan with awareness.

STOP complaining about it. START DOING!