Research Making the News

Can Boston Close the Gender Wage Gap?

A new report from the Boston Women's Workforce Council found that, on average, women in Boston make just 70 cents for every dollar a man makes, and this gap only widens when comparing the pay women of color receive to white men. Kim Borman, Executive Director of the BWWC, explained that she is working with the mayor’s office to develop a wage calculator that companies can use to identify inequities. For example, bonus pay can be very subjective, and there is even more inequality there: women make just 30 cents to a man’s dollar in bonus pay. The city is also looking closely at childcare as an area that impacts the wage gap, as record numbers of women have left jobs during the pandemic.

Citing: The Boston Women’s Workforce Council Annual Report 2021 by BWWC and Boston University at BWWC (December 2021) 

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Early, Mid-career Women Experienced Higher Stress Than Other Academics During Pandemic  

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected women who are early and mid-career academic faculty members, according to a recent study by University of Illinois Chicago researchers. The study aimed to identify personal and professional characteristics to understand the pandemic’s impact on faculty and, consequently, on policy implications. Researchers invited UIC faculty members to participate in the survey, and the results from 497 respondents were calculated for the qualitative analysis. Respondents answered 93 questions about work and home stress, as well as demographic information. Faculty who had highest home and work stress also had the most significant change in work-life balance due to COVID-19.   

Citing: Work-Life Balance and Productivity Among Academic Faculty During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Latent Class Analysis by Pavitra Kotini-Shah, Bernice Man, Ruth Pobee, et al. at Journal for Women’s Health (November 25, 2021) 

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Women Woefully Absent in Appellate Oral Arguments, 7th Circuit Judge's Study Finds  

In 2009, women presented only 24% of oral arguments heard by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Ten years later, according to a new empirical study by 7th Circuit Judge Amy St. Eve and former St. Eve clerk Jamie Luguri, things were ever-so-slightly better: Women made 28% of the arguments before the 7th Circuit in 2019. The numbers are much, much lower for women in complex, private appeals. The researchers found that in both 2009 and 2019, women appeared most often on behalf of federal, state, or local governments. St. Eve and Luguri called on firms to concentrate on assuring appellate opportunities for young lawyers in pro bono and court-appointed cases as well as appoint women as appellate practice heads. 

Citing: How Unappealing: An Empirical Analysis of the Gender Gap among Appellate Attorneys by Amy J. St. Eve and Jamie B. Lugur at American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession (December 2021) 

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Blood Pressure Rose in 2020, Especially in Women, Study Says — A Sign of Pandemic’s Hidden Toll

American adults’ blood pressure rose markedly in 2020 compared with the year before, according to a study published Monday in the journal Circulation. It was an increase observed across genders and age groups — though researchers found larger increases in women. The study did not directly examine reasons behind the spike, but Laffin said there are many factors that may have contributed to blood pressure rises last year. For people with diagnosed high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, they may have skipped usual visits to the doctor or may not have been regularly refilling prescriptions. For other people, lifestyle factors, including poor sleep, poor diet choices, increased alcohol consumption and lack of regular exercise, may have contributed to blood pressure increases. 

Citing: Rise in Blood Pressure Observed Among US Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic by Luke J. Laffin, Harvey W. Kaufman, Zhen Chen, et al. at Circulation (December 6, 2021) 

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Women Earn $2 Million Less Than Men in Their Careers as Doctors  

Female doctors make less than their male counterparts starting from their very first days on the job, according to a large new study. Over the course of a 40-year-career, researchers estimated, this pay gap adds up to at least $2 million. The survey of more than 80,000 physicians is the largest analysis to date on physician salaries and the first to estimate the cumulative impact of pay gaps in medicine. Dr. Whaley’s team used survey data collected between 2014 and 2019. The pay gap has probably widened since then, he said, as the pandemic has driven women in many fields, including medicine, out of the workplace to take on child care and other household responsibilities, lowering their cumulative career earnings. 

Citing: Female Physicians Earn an Estimated $2 Million Less Than Male Physicians Over A Simulated 40-Year Career by Christopher Whaley, Tina Koo, Vineet M. Arora, et al. at Health Affairs (December 2021) 

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New Research Reports

Unequal Present, Unfair Future: Young Black, Latina, and LGBTQ Women Face Greater Economic Challenges during the Pandemic 

Institute for Women's Policy Research | Shengwei Sun | December 13, 2021 

New IWPR survey data show young women’s experience of economic hardship during the COVID-19 crisis varied across racial/ethnic groups and gender and sexual identities—with some struggling more than others. Specifically, young women of color and LGBTQ women faced significant career setbacks. Higher percentages of young Black women (29.3 percent), Latina women (27.1 percent), and women identifying as LGBTQ or gender nonconforming (35.7 percent) have experienced career setbacks than their counterparts (24.3 percent for all young women). Young women overwhelmingly are in favor of structural policy changes that would benefit them, including forgiving all student loan debt, raising the federal minimum wage, and guaranteeing child care assistance. To achieve an equitable recovery, policies like these level the playing field by supporting young women who have been hit hardest. 

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Resilience in Hard Times: Young Women Report Optimism in the Face of Pandemic Recession 

Institute for Women's Policy Research | Jeff Hayes | December 13, 2021 

A new survey from IWPR shows that, despite these challenges, women remain remarkably optimistic about their economic future and their ability to achieve the proverbial “American dream.” In June 2021, IWPR surveyed 1,421 women aged 18 to 34 years to capture their experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and early recovery period. The samples were weighted to produce estimates representing the population of young women (aged 18 to 34) in the U.S. Drawing on survey results, this brief examines young women’s perspectives on their educational pursuits, employment and job opportunities, and starting families of their own, with a focus on how their experiences differ by race/ethnicity and gender and sexual identity. The brief also highlights how the young women surveyed weigh the opportunities and barriers they face compared to their peers as well as their parents at their age. 

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Supporting Student Parent Recovery through State Policy  

Institute for Women's Policy Research | Chaunté White and Lindsey Reichlin Cruse | November 30, 2021 

Higher education is essential to accessing high-demand jobs with family-supporting wages and improving family financial well-being. This was true before the COVID-19 pandemic and is especially true now as the nation continues the process of recovering from one of the worst public health, economic, and social crises in modern U.S. history. Early evidence suggests that the pandemic exacerbated barriers faced by student parents, affecting their college plans. Nearly three quarters of student parents (70 percent) are mothers—who, in 2020, experienced significant unemployment, due in part to increased caretaking responsibilities stemming from child care and school closures, causing a loss of income and heightened basic needs insecurity. To ensure an equitable recovery, states must center the needs of student parents and work to expand their access to support. 

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Promoting Equitable Access to Quality Child Care  

Center for American Progress | Simon Workman | December 9, 2021 

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of March 2021 provided historic investments in early care and education, delivering nearly $40 billion for the sector in the form of child care stabilization grants and supplemental funds for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) under the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). While this funding represents the largest one-time investment the sector has ever seen, it comes at a time when the U.S. child care system is creaking under multiple pressures. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the deficiencies in how child care is funded in the United States. The current funding landscape leaves too many families behind, disproportionately affecting families with infants and toddlers, families living in rural communities, families and children with disabilities, and families of color. 

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The Future of Diversity  

International Labour Organization | Christiane Kuptsch and Éric Charest (eds.) | December 9, 2021 

Without any claim to exhaustiveness, it is indeed one of the main purposes of this book to present a variety of perspectives, aiming to increase awareness about the forms and elements of diversity and to prevent misunderstanding and confusion. This book also offers an analysis of diverse societies, diversity in organizations, and diversity at the individual level. One could also speak of the macro, meso, and micro levels of diversity. Last but not least, this book is about the interlinkages of the concept of diversity with notions such as equality, discrimination and violence, inclusion and exclusion. While the chapter authors present different perspectives on diversity, the common thread in all chapters is that they focus on diversity in the world of work. 

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The Role of Firms in Wage Inequality: Policy Lessons from a Large Scale Cross-Country Study  

OECD | December 9, 2021 

Even though firms play a key role in shaping wages, wage inequality, and the gender wage gap, firms have so far only featured to a limited extent in the policy debates around these issues. The evidence in this volume shows that around one third of overall wage inequality can be explained by gaps in pay between firms rather than differences in the level and returns to workers’ skills. Gaps in firm pay reflect differences in productivity and wage setting power. To address high wage inequality while fostering high and sustainable growth, worker-centered policies need to be complemented with firm-oriented policies. This involves: (1) policies that promote the productivity catch-up of lagging firms; (2) policies that reduce wage gaps at given productivity gaps without limiting efficiency-enhancing reallocation, especially the promotion of worker mobility; and (3) policies that reduce the wage setting power of firms with dominant positions in local labor markets. 

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What Can Economic Research Tell Us About the Effect of Abortion Access on Women’s Lives?  

Brookings Institute | Caitlin Knowles Myers and Morgan Welch | November 30, 2021 

On December 1, 2021, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson. In asking the Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the state of Mississippi offers reassurances that “there is simply no causal link between the availability of abortion and the capacity of women to act in society” and hence no reason to believe that abortion access has shaped “the ability of women to participate equally in the economic and social life of the Nation” as the Court had previously held. While the debate over abortion often centers on largely intractable subjective questions of ethics and morality, in this instance the Court is being asked to consider an objective question about the causal effects of abortion access on the lives of women and their families. The field of economics affords insights into these objective questions through the application of sophisticated methodological approaches that can be used to isolate and measure the causal effects of abortion access on reproductive, social, and economic outcomes for women and their families. 

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Caregiving in a Diverse America: Beginning to Understand the Systemic Challenges Facing Family Caregivers  

National Alliance for Caregiving | Mousumi Bose, Lauren Tokarewich, Reed W.R. Bratches, and Paul J. Barr | November 2021 

This report highlights significant disparities in support, caregiving intensity, health, and financial impacts among caregivers of color, LGBTQ caregivers, as well as caregivers across different income brackets and geographical areas. While this report substantially adds to the knowledge base in the characterization of the diverse experiences of caregivers in the United States, it is undoubtedly clear that this is only a preliminary step and that there is an urgent need for additional research that purposefully establishes objectives related to a better understanding of caregivers from diverse backgrounds. More inclusive, transparent, and representative primary data collection is an imperative next step to help continue the effort in reducing existing disparities and ensuring more equitable delivery of programs, resources, and services for caregivers and their care recipients. 

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