How $0.25 Leaves Lesbian Households Millions Short
I ran across this great article “Lesbian Economics” today at the LesbianFamily.org blog.
Suffice it to say women are still earning less than our male counterparts with the current figure being 74.7 cents on their dollar. Doesn’t sound like much until you do the math as Liza did in the article. Hold your hats my fellow superwomen, the numbers, even in this mathematically simplified hypothetical example are staggering. You have to check out her article to get all the nuances, but here’s the bottom line in her example with Mrs. and Mrs. QQQ:
Over the course of a 40 year career, using the average annual rate of return for the stock market between 1892 – 1997, 7%, Mrs and Mrs QQQ under-earn their friends by $5,783,175.90.
OK kids, you read that right. $5 MILLION. What would you do with an extra $5 million dollars in your dual woman household over the course of a 40 year career? Even if your household income doesn’t approach the current combined income of the QQQ’s at $149,400, the premise should still shock you.
So, what does this wage gap that has existed forever and a day say about our progress in the workforce? More importantly, what does this mean to the intelligent and achievement oriented lesbians who not only want to get ahead in their careers but more importantly have fulfilling lives and financial freedom? I suppose the problem only further compounds itself if the lesbian couple decides that one of the Mom’s should stay home and raise children. That’s a hard enough proposition for anyone in today’s times but for this example, it is a double whammy. First, the couple spends massive amounts of money conceiving or adopting the child and then are faced with even more cards stacked against them as they build the household finances. Don’t even get me started about the whole inability to file taxes jointly as a married couple which packs a further monetary whack along with the additional legal gymnastics and fees required to protect your family.
While I am far from the one with the answers, the ideas that pop into my head include:
- More women need to be given a seat at the table in high paying jobs because lord knows we are competent and then some. The glass and pink ceiling is apparently still alive and well.
- Women need to step up and demand to be paid what they are worth. Trends say we aren’t doing that and I touch on that topic in “How to Ask for More Money”
- In order to demand to be paid what you’re worth you need to feel worthy. It starts with self-acknowledgement and the ability to receive and be grateful. Check out “Why Do We Avoid Celebrating Our Accomplishments” for some reasons we don’t tend to do that.
What do you think? What remains at the heart of the wage gap and gender discrimination? How does this affect you and your same-sex partner? Share your thoughts in the comments…
It’s even harder for women who are not in a partnership or married to their girlfriend. Single people pay more for most things and rarely share costs for anything. Ow.
Paula,
As a gay man, I appreciate your introduction of gender analysis into the mix. Of course, the reasons require lots of analysis looking at the issue from many different angles, but it is certainly true that educated, urban/suburban white gay men are doing better financially than most Lesbians, gay folk of color, working class and rural gay folk and transgender folk. What’s needed in our politics–especially about money–is a broad vision that takes the realities of the diversity of LGBT people into account. Otherwise, what’s good for and works for some of us actually works against others of us. Thanks Paula!
It’s not just a matter of gender, but also of parenting status, and here the situation gets a little more complicated.
Part of the wage gap is because of gender discrimination, I have no doubt. Part, too, is because straight, married women in the workforce who are mothers are still more likely to be taking on the greater part of childraising duties. They can’t or don’t focus on career as much as their husbands, and thus earn less. According to Momsrising.org (http://www.momsrising.org/wages), “right now the wage gap between mothers and non-mothers is greater than between women and men”and it’s actually getting bigger. Non-mothers earn 10 percent less than their male counterparts; mothers earn 27 percent less; and single mothers earn between 34 percent and 44 percent less.”
In a lesbian couple with kids, however, even if one of the partners has more childcare duties, that leaves one woman free to focus on career and the potential greater salary that can go with that focus. In theory, this means that the QQQs and the AAAs could earn the same. Gender bias means this isn’t always the case–but the situation might not always be as bad as you outline, either. (If the lesbian couple splits childcare duties, then one would assume each woman’s earning power is still more than that of primary-care moms, but less than that of a career-focused husband, and the numbers would probably end up about the same.)
I admit this is all theoretical, and needs to be backed up with statistical studies. I throw it out here as a further aspect for discussion.
(Reposted with slight modification from the comment I left on Liza’s original post.)
From what I understand, one of the problems is that women are more likely to insist on having jobs that are personally satisfying and thus are willing to take lower pay.
That’s part of my problem–I refuse to take a high-stress job or a job that requires more than 40 hours of work, and I insist on working in the education sector, so I’m settling for half of the sample female income in the article.
Good point Rhea. And for all intents and purposes we are all “single” in the eyes of the federal government since gay marriage isn’t recognized.
Thanks for the shout out, Paula!
I think everyone raises very good points — this is a complex issue, and the wage gap hits different members of our community in different ways.
At the same time, I think we’re delusional if we don’t think it’s a significant problem. 🙂 Individually, we can work on trying to close the gaps in our careers, using some of your suggestions. But I think we need to at least do some good analysis at a “bigger picture” level to try to figure out how to address the unfairness.
(Harvard, I’m not sure I think that solving the wage gap hurts “other” members of our community. I think that’s setting up a false dichotomy — men’s wages don’t have to fall for women’s to rise; addressing the gender gap doesn’t require that we ignore racial and ethnic gaps, etc.)