Education and Economics
Latest Census statistics show that the gap between men's and women's earnings widened slightly between 2007 and 2008, from 77.8 (generally rounded to 78 percent) to 77 percent. Based on the median earnings of full-time, year-round workers, women's earnings were $35,745 and men's earnings were $46,367.
Median earnings for most women of color are even lower. In 2008, the
earnings for African American women were $31,489, 67.9 percent of
men's earnings (a drop from 68.7 percent in 2007), and Latinas'
earnings were $26,846, 58 percent of men's earnings (a drop from 59
percent in 2007). Asian American women's earnings in 2008 were $42,215
-- 91 percent of men's earnings, an increase from 89.5 percent in
2007.
In 2003, women's earnings were 76% of men's, down from 77% in 2002, $30,724, compared to $40,668 for men. The last time before this that the female-to-male earnings ratio declined was 1998-99. http://www.pay-equity.org/
On an hourly basis, women with a four-year college degree earned about 80 percent more than women with only a high school degree in 2001
Women's achievements in higher education during the past three decades are considered to be partly responsible for narrowing the wage gap. At every education level, however, women continue to earn less than similarly educated men.
A typical college-educated woman working full time earns $44,200 a year compared to $61,800 for college-educated male workers--a difference of $17,600!
In 2001, women accounted for 48% of the labor force, but 59% of workers making less than $8 an hour. http://www.equalrights.org/publications/fact_sheets/paystats.asp
Among undergraduates, 56 percent of the student body in 2000 were women, up from 42 percent in 1970. The proportion of women graduate students grew from 39 percent to 58 percent during this period.
The most dramatic change occurred in professional programs such as medicine, law, and business, where the proportion of women shot up from 9 percent in 1970 to 47 percent in 2000.
Women now earn more than 60 percent of undergraduate degrees in biology and nearly half of undergraduate degrees in mathematics (47 percent).
Women are still underrepresented in many science and engineering fields. Men still earn most of the bachelor's degrees in engineering (79 percent) and computer science (72 percent).
www.aauw.org
Racism
Median earnings for women of color continue to be lower, in general, than earnings for men as a whole. In 2003, the earnings for African American women were $26,989, 66% of men's earnings (down from 68% last year); Latinas at $22,363, 55% of men's earnings (down from 56% last year); and Asian American women at $32,446, 80% of men's earnings (wage gap remained the same). http://www.pay-equity.org/
The typical African American family had 60% as much income as a typical White family in 1958, but only 58% as much in 2002.
Black unemployment is more than twice the rate for Whites - a greater gap than in 1972. One in nine African Americans cannot find a job.
White households had an average net worth of $468,200 in 2001 - more than 6 times the $75,700 average net worth of Black households.
At the slow rate that the Black-White poverty gap has been narrowing since 1968, it would take 150 years (i.e., until the year 2152) to close the gap.
African-Americans make up almost half of the prison population, yet African Americans make up only 12% of the population within the United States. www.naacp.org
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