Pay Equity Day 2021: The plight of Idaho’s working moms and closing the gender wage gap

This year, All Women’s Equal Pay Day is March 24. The day denotes how far into the New Year women must work to be paid what men were paid the previous year. Women working full time and year round are paid 82 cents for every dollar paid to a man who works full time and year round.

Started by the National Committee on Pay Equity in 1996, the goal was to raise awareness about the gender wage gap. Since then, other Equal Pay Days have been added to the calendar to denote that most women of color face a wider-than-average gap and need to work even longer to catch up to men’s earnings. Most recently, Mothers’ Equal Pay Day has been added to the list.

The American Association of University Women closely monitors pay equity in the United States. This year it reports the following: For every dollar white men are paid, women of color make the following: Asian women: 85 cents, Black women: 63 cents, Native American women: 60 cents and Latinas: 55 cents.

Mothers’ Equal Pay Day is June 4. Mothers are paid a paltry 70 cents for every dollar paid to fathers.

Though childbearing has economic benefits for our society, women are financially penalized for having children. A study by Census Bureau researchers found that between two years before the birth of a couple’s first child and a year after, the earnings gap between opposite-sex spouses doubles. The gap continues to grow until that child reaches age 10. Though it narrows after that, it never disappears completely. This is referred to as the “Motherhood Penalty.”

In Idaho, the Motherhood Penalty certainly has been compounded by the pandemic. The coronavirus recession has been especially cruel to Idaho’s working women. Recently, BoiseDev reported that Idaho women between the ages of 35 and 54 are leaving the workforce at higher rates than men. Many Idaho mothers attempted to work from home, care for and tutor their children as well as monitor the well-being of their sequestered parents. After becoming anxious about their lives, their health and their livelihood, many of these mothers who have borne the brunt of this pandemic have left the workforce.

To drive this perfect storm, many Idaho employers still don’t offer necessary benefits, such as paid parental leave, caregiving leave or flexible work schedules.

Unfortunately, many of our workplaces still operate on an outdated model that assumes one parent is the primary breadwinner and the other the primary caretaker. However, few Idaho families adhere to this 1950s-style setup.

Beth Oppenheimer, the executive director of the Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children, stated that 65 percent of children under the age of 8 in Idaho have both parents in the workforce.

“We don’t all have the luxury of having one parent stay at home,” she said.

This June Cleaver notion about family life is compounded by an Idaho Legislature that is tone deaf to the needs of modern working moms. Our elected officials talk about “family values” but do little that values families.

Given that Idaho working mothers were disproportionately hurt by the pandemic, we must make sure that they are a priority in the recovery.

First and foremost what Idaho working moms want is excellent affordable child care, maternity/paternity leave, outstanding safe public education, beneficial after-school programs, realistic and fair wages.

Across Idaho and around the country working mothers and others who think about social change are ready to act.