Women working in Erie County simultaneously experience lower pay and more significant barriers to success relative to men, according to a new report released by the ILR Buffalo Co-Lab.
Researchers found that even after factoring in education, experience, occupation and industry, the adjusted average hourly wage for women is $2.74 less than for men - and the gap widens with higher education. Women with graduate or professional degrees earn $3.68 per hour less than equally qualified men, amounting to nearly $7,700 less per year.
"I'm gratified that women have come a long way in the last 100 years, but this report shows we've still got a long way to go," said Cathy Creighton, director of the Buffalo Co-Lab. "I'm not surprised by the fact that there is a gender wage gap, but I think what is surprising is that the report shows that you can't credential your way out of gender discrimination in the workplace."
The report, "Lower Pay and Greater Barriers to Success: An Examination of Gender Inequality in the Erie County, NY Labor Market," was co-authored by Creighton and Russell Weaver, director of research at the Buffalo Co-Lab. It was commissioned by the County of Erie and undertaken in collaboration with the county's Commission on the Status of Women.
In addition to persistent pay gaps, the report found that women:
- Incur a "motherhood penalty," which disproportionately affects women's wages and career advancement;
- Lack political and economic power, which leads to underrepresentation in policymaking and corporate governance; and
- Suffer from workplace discrimination and gender bias, which serve as barriers to advancement.
"The top industries in Erie County - health care, social assistance and educational services, are dominated by female workers," Weaver said. "They just don't get the money from those industries. On top of that, the industries that women are in are industries that have been systematically devalued for decades.
"There have been no reinvestments in educational services or health care, and they're currently being gutted," he said, "so I don't see how we'll be able to close the gender wage gap without a real concerted effort."
According to the report, addressing these issues will require bold policy interventions, corporate accountability and cultural shifts to ensure that women receive equal pay, opportunities and representation in decision-making positions.
The researchers' recommendations to affect positive change include:
- Enforce pay transparency laws to ensure women have access to salary information and can challenge unfair wage disparities;
- Implement stronger workplace regulations to hold employers accountable for gender-based pay inequities;
- Introduce affordable, high-quality childcare programs to alleviate the burden on working mothers; and
- Advocate for paid family leave policies, allowing women and men to balance career growth with caregiving responsibilities.
For quantitative analysis, the researchers used data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, Public Use Microdata Samples and the Current Population Survey Earner Study. For their qualitative analysis, they conducted five focus groups with 24 working women from key industries in Erie County, including health care, education, food service and public administration.
"The data showed that women are paid unequally at work," Creighton said, "but it was through the focus groups that we learned that women are fully aware that they're paid unequally at work, and that they have to work harder and talk louder, and find workarounds in order to keep their place."
Said Weaver: "That's something that we don't have access to in datasets. We need to hear about those experiences. If we're just looking at data, and we see that there's a pay gap, we can make recommendations for things like pay transparency. But by holding these focus groups and having these conversations and dialogs, they turn what are 'I' problems into 'we' problems, and they help light that organizing fire."
Julie Greco is a senior communications specialist for the ILR School.
