Twelve ways to make women's lives better

Walmart and other employers aren't treating women well.

On the eve of America's greatest non-denominational holiday, it's a good time to remember there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to make the U.S. live up to the high ideals of its founding fathers. And it begins with improving conditions so the majority gender is on equal footing with males in this country.

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released a Women's Economic Agenda last week that details 12 measures policymakers can take to improve their lives. They are:

• Raise the minimum wage;
• Eliminate the tipped minimum wage;
• Strengthen collective bargaining rights;
• Strengthen laws against discrimination in hiring, pay and promotion;
• Provide paid family leave;
• Provide paid sick leave;
• Require fair scheduling practices;
• Provide affordable child care and early childhood education;
• Protect and expand Social Security;
• Provide undocumented workers a path towards citizenship;
• Support strong enforcement of labor standards, and;
• Prioritize wage growth and low unemployment when making monetary policy.

As EPI stated in the document:

Over the last several decades, millions of women have joined the workforce and made huge gains in their educational attainment, which exceeds that of men. Yet women are still paid less than men. Indeed, gender wage disparities are present across the wage distribution and within education cohorts, occupations and sectors -- sometimes to a grave degree. Closing the wage gap is essential to helping achieve economic security.

If the U.S. wants a workforce at full employment, policies need to be put in place that allow workers (women and men) the ability to earn a living while also being family friendly. Right now, that's just not the case. It's why the Teamsters rolled out the "Let's Get America Working" platform earlier this year and why other allies have stressed these issues as well.

Congress must value all workers.

U.S. kids are watched by people in poverty

The availability of child care is often identified as essential to ensuring that more adults can enter the workforce. But in many places, the service is unaffordable for everyday Americans. And that includes those working in the field itself.

Some child care teachers are taking a stand for fair wages.

A report released by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) this month found that the median hourly wage for child care workers is $10.31 a hour, nearly 40 percent lower than workers in other occupations. Most of the 1.2 million nearly-all female workers in the field don't receive health insurance or other benefits either.

Elise Gould, EPI's senior economist, said that leaves a lot of workers in the lurch:

While child care is a large expense, it's not because child care workers are overpaid. Despite the critical role they play in the economy, child care workers are some of the lowest-paid workers in the country. We need a bold solution to improve the working conditions of child care workers and make child care accessible at the same time.

As it stands, in 32 states and the District of Columbia, center-based infant care costs are equal to more than a third of a typical preschool worker's earnings. And in 21 states and D.C., non-preschool child care workers would have to spend over half of their annual earnings to pay for center-based infant care.

This is yet another example of the failing American economy. Child
care workers play a necessary role that benefits the entire U.S., but they don't make a wage themselves that allows them to provide for themselves or their families.

Lawmakers need to craft solutions that benefit workers. This nation needs to find a way to allow parents to pursue employment outside the home while paying people a fair wage to engage with our greatest resource -- out future generations.

Fairness still eludes many mothers on the job

The two-income American family has become increasingly necessary is an age where a majority of workers are being stifled by stagnant or even falling wages. Mothers who entered in the workforce were in previous decades derided for such a decision. But that is not the case today.

Teamsters make sure women are treated fairly on the job.

A new study shows all-time high support of mothers holding down jobs by both teens and adults. For 12th graders, only 22 percent currently believe a preschool-aged child would suffer if their mother worked, down from 34 percent in the 1990s and 59 percent in the 1970s. Meanwhile, some 35 percent currently believe young children are hurt by having working mothers, down from 42 percent in 1998 and 68 percent in 1977.

Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University and a lead author of the study, said despite some stating that younger generations have turned against such a dynamic, the research doesn't bear that out:

This goes against the popular belief that millennials want to "turn back the clock," or that they are less supportive of working moms because their own mothers worked. Instead they are more supportive.

All this is as it should be. All women should be accepted in the workplace. After all, for many it is not a choice, but a necessity. Many single moms, for instance, are doing all they can to keep their families above water. But just because the public now supports the idea of moms on the job doesn't mean this country is making it easy for them to do so.

Take the lack of fairness in pay. Congress has repeatedly rejected the Paycheck Fairness Act in recent years. In essence, a majority of lawmakers are saying they don't have a problem with women making 78 cents on the dollar that men earn. It's nothing less than insulting.

Add to that the continuing problem of workers lacking paid sick leave as well as affordable childcare options, and working isn't really much of a deal for women. But many simply have no other option.

It is time U.S. elected officials recognize the value of women both at home and at work. They deserve equality in pay, and they should be allowed the flexibility to balance the home and work lives when events intervene.