Taking Stock of Women's Progress at the 49.9% Mark in US
On verge of the majority of workforce, just how far have women come?
- Women held 49.9% of jobs in the US as of the end of 2009, tantalizingly close but not at parity with men. But of course, a majority of the workforce is only one milestone, however important, that we have been awaiting for some time.
See below for how the milestone and the first Economist cover of 2010 are not exactly what many think.
Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park
- Not only do women earn less and work fewer hours over their lifetimes than men, they also have fewer savings and less income come retirement, The Kansas City Star notes.
- This site has long noted just how few positions of top authority women have in US workplaces, but it should also be noted that women are far likelier than men to be impoverished, and women now head 4 in 10 of all US households, and that may soon be a form of authoritative majority that no one can dispute, even if it can have grave implications for the country and society.
- Referring to the cover story in the first Economist issue of 2010, the article concludes: “So that’s why saying, “We Did It!” may be premature celebration,” the newspaper says. “But it’s also OK to recognize the inherent gains for women. For many, the benefits of financial liberation are great.
- “And, it also should be noted that workplace gains are going hand in hand with education Women already make up more than half of college students. As women’s education and professional work-force participation levels grow along with the service economy, there may, within a generation, be a time where “We Did It!” truly deserves the exclamation point.”
Details
- The Kansas City Star, piqued by the cover story in The Economist at the start of 2010, notes that even when women hold more than half of all payroll jobs, men will still outnumber them by about 10 million in the US labour force, even if much of that difference is unemployed as a result of disproportionate jobs losses among men.
- In addition, the workforce percentages are not based on the Department of Labor’s household survey, which has 7 million more men working because it counts self-employed and farm workers. Beyond that, the military is not included in either assessment, and men make up about 85% of active-duty US military personnel.
- One final detail that the newspaper points out, which this site and many others, including The Economist, erred on: The cover painting is not of Rosie the Riveter, who was most famously painted by Norman Rockwell and has red hair. The muscle-flexing blonde on the Economist cover was by J. Howard Miller, painted for a Westinghouse motivational campaign during World War II and based on a photograph of a factory worker named Geraldine Doyle.
Bookmarks
Featured
- From man's recession to the ascendancy of women
- Gender balance: a future beneficial for both sexes
- Women take center stage in US primaries
- Girls are overrepresented in gifted programs
- In Sciences, Women Have to Do So Much More for Same Kudos
- It's Official at Last: Women Outnumber Men in US Workforce
- Korean Women Turn to the Government to Get Ahead
- No Advance for Women on Boards of US Blue Chips
- How Having More Working Mothers Could Save South Korea
- Article in The Economist Dumbfounds Chief of theglasshammer
- A Great Read: Linda Tarr-Whelan's "Women Lead the Way"
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