Reading on the Run: Articles of Interest to Working Moms (The Wage Gap at The White House)

Successful working women keep track of important matters in the news. However, we are not one-dimensional. Some of us also want to keep up with celebrity gossip and fashion news too. Even in the era of the Internet and 24 hour news shows and E!, it can be challenging to keep up with everything.

Fortunately for you, I make it my job to keep up on articles of interest to working moms and when I find notable ones, I share them with you. Below  is an article about the wage gap that exists, at The White House.

Articles of Interest to Working Moms 

I’d like to thank my new Twitter friend Liz O’Donnell for bringing this article to my attention. 

As we all know the wage gap is real.  When pressed, to many people try to explain away the difference on the grounds that many women leave the workforce to raise their children and that interruption causes them to take a pay hit.  While that factor may influence the statistic on a macro level for professional jobs it doesn’t tell the entire story.

Not all women who are underpaid have taken time off.  Indeed, there are many women working side-by-side with men doing substantially similar jobs with substantially similar education who make substantially less money. 

I am particularly sensitive to this issue.  While the wage gap exists nationally, it has been reported that it is largest in Seattle, Buffalo and Pittsburgh.  See Study: Wage Gap Largest in Seattle, Pittsburgh, Buffalo.  Pittsburgh is my adopted hometown.  Since I am a working woman in Pittsburgh the gender wage gap makes me angry. That said, the Women and Girls Foundation in Pittsburgh has done a lot of work to highlight the wage gap here and is actively working to improve the lives of women in this region.  For that reason, despite the statistic, I was not surprised about what is going on in Pittsburgh.

However, I was surprised to recently learn that there is a wage gap at the White House.  The article below discusses a variety of reasons for the gap.  Those quoted say that women doing substantially similar work to men get similar pay.  However, there are more men at the higher echelons and make more money. While that explains the math, it does not explain the decision-making.  Indeed, it begs the question, why aren't there more women at the top?

Remember, Mr. President.  The right manager may very well be a woman.

Articles

Male-female pay gap remains entrenched at White House 

The White House’s own wage gender gap