by Ashlea Dickson, on March 08, 2023
This year on International Women’s Day, we decided to follow-up on a post of our explorations from March of 2022. We spoke about how businesses were considering hybrid models of work long-term, how the workforce was affected by the pandemic (men vs. women retaining their positions), and what changes we may see moving forward.
With most pandemic closures and restrictions fully lifted in the last year, we expected to see a rise in not only women returning to the workforce (either in-person or hybrid), but a new perspective on how companies could accommodate a hybrid schedule that was commonly used during the pandemic, including new ways to support families. We also hoped to see a smaller gap in pay as we continued forward.
Let’s look at where the US workforce stands now:
Slow Closing Gap
While researching, we discovered though the pay-gap between men and women is slowly closing, the disparity between pay is still quite evident. Even after the pandemic and re-opening of many jobs, women continue to see a disproportionate pay-rate in comparison to their male counterparts.
According to Pew Research, in 2022, women ages 25 to 34 earned an average of 92 cents for every dollar earned by a man in the same age group – an 8-cent gap. By comparison, the gender pay gap among workers of all ages that year was 18 cents. Unfortunately, these numbers have essentially remained the unchanged since 2002.
What circumstances lay behind the pay-gap differences?
Statistics show that parents with children younger than 18 in the household are more likely than those who don’t have young kids at home (48% vs. 40%) to say a major reason for the pay gap is the choices that women make about how to balance family and work. On this question, differences by parental status are evident among both men and women.
It is no surprise that women tend to feel more responsibility on the home front while men feel the pressure to be the financial support in their home. The research Pew conducted tells just as much.
Overall, a quarter of employed U.S. adults say they are currently the boss or one of the top managers where they work, according to the Center’s survey. Another 33% say they are not currently the boss but would like to be in the future, while 41% are not and do not aspire to be the boss or one of the top managers.
Men are more likely than women to be a boss or a top manager where they work (28% vs. 21%). This is especially the case among employed fathers, 35% of whom say they are the boss or one of the top managers where they work. (The varying attitudes between fathers and men without children at least partly reflect differences in marital status and educational attainment between the two groups.)
Has the hybrid work environment helped or hurt the workforce?
An article completed by Adi Gaskell at Forbes Magazine delved into what hybrid work looks like now and how it is affecting men and women’s productivity in the workplace:
Studies have been conducted by researchers at both the University of Connecticut and the University of Nevada. “The gender divide was particularly surprising to us. We had heard anecdotally that it occurred, but now we have empirical evidence that women are interrupted more frequently, both with work-related and personal responsibilities,” the researchers say.
This research looked at dual-income homes with both parties working from home. It showed that much of the domestic responsibility was still falling upon the female partner, though the hours worked were equal with her male partner. Her working hours were more fragmented while his remained a majority uninterrupted.
With that evidence, it would then make sense that companies who are continuing a hybrid work schedule, support more flexibility for the males working from home so that the burden of domestic duties or interruptions can be shared and more proportional, thus supporting women who are also working from home. In the grand scheme of things, this would also promote women’s opportunities for promotions, better pay, and a more equal presence in the work force.
At Innovative Advisor Solutions, we believe that when you engage your employees with a mindset of flexibility and work-life balance as core values, you will create a more enjoyable and productive work environment. At IA Solutions, we pledge to continue to explore the boundaries and potential of virtualized work in-effort to create a more diversified and inclusive workspace for everyone.
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To learn more about how you can support the women in your workplace or donate to a great cause, please visit the official International Women’s Day homepage.
International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women's equality.
IWD has occurred for well over a century, with the first IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people. Today, IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. IWD is not country, group, or organization specific.
https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Fundraising
Sources
Forbes Article and Associated Research
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/peps.12559
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08934215.2021.1993947
Pew Research
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2023/03/01/gender-pay-gap-facts/
