The Executive Director of the Indiana Commission for Women, Sharon Langlotz, joined us on October 31 for our N.E.W (Nontraditional Employment Workshop for Women) annual workshop.
Ms. Langlotz shared some interesting facts with me about working women:
Plan on working. Over 71% of all moms with kids under 18 are working (26 million moms nationwide)
National leaders take credit for boosting the economy since the 1970s, but increases can be attributed directly to women joining the workforce and adding to the GDP
One of the concerns of the Commission for Women is the wage gap in Indiana between men and women’s pay. Comparing the wages of all Indiana women against all Indiana men, women make 72¢ for every $1.00 a man makes (that’s up from 68¢ in 2004). Nationally, the average is a little better at 77¢ on the dollar.
One explanation for the gap is that women tend to be over-represented in lower paying jobs.
The only way to close this gap is to ensure that our daughters gain the education and skills and training they need to compete and move into higher paying jobs in industries across the board.
We had 21 non-traditional occupations represented at the N.E.W conference. All represented well-paying jobs and most did not require a four year college degree – but all required some post-secondary training or apprenticeship.
Just FYI - the current female workforce in Indiana – 25-65 years olds – looks like this:
*23% have a degree beyond high school
*82% have a high school diploma
*18% (362,000) have no diploma or degree
A high school counselor once wisely said “look for a job where you will be happy”. I would like to add an addendum to that; “happy” is sweeter at $22.00 an hour than it is at $8.00!
So……. talk with your daughters about different occupations and check out what those jobs might pay. The doors have been opened for our young women – we just need to make sure they understand where they are, and are prepared to walk through them.
Contributed by Sharon Langlotz, Executive Director of the Indiana Commission on Women
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The most incredible thing is that in this day and age, my daughters can be anything they choose. My great grandmothers went to college to study home economics and to get their Mrs. Even as late as the 80's, women were geared towards more traditional occupations (teacher, nurse). Though both honorable professions, it is nice that our children have lots of options. Thanks for reinforcing this!
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