FORT WAYNE — Female workers continue to be paid less than male workers in northeast Indiana, despite achieving the same and sometimes higher levels of education, according to the April Labor Market Information Report issued by Northeast Indiana Works.
The findings are similar to those reported nationally, the organization said.
Census Bureau data tracking educational attainment for northeast Indiana residents 25 and older between 2009 and 2013 showed roughly the same percentage of women (13.4 percent) as men (13.5 percent) had earned bachelor’s degrees, while women earning associates degrees (9.4 percent) topped men (7.8 percent). The percentage of women earning master’s degrees also exceeded men: 6.2 percent and 5 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, Census Bureau data for northeast Indiana residents 14 to 99 years old show females generally gaining no ground in job earnings compared to men since the start of the 21st century. In fact, females lost ground in average monthly earnings between the second quarter of 2010 and the second quarter of 2014. During that time, the gap in average monthly earnings between males and females across all industry sectors rose from $1,310 to $1,395.
Those earnings included both full and part-time work. Northeast Indiana Works said that may explain some of the difference in earnings: 34 percent of women 16-64 years old working in northeast Indiana between 2009-2013 worked part-time, according to the Census Bureau, while 16 percent of men worked part-time.
“We are very disappointed by the findings, although not surprised,” said Barbara Knights-Hale, an Angola business woman and member of Northeast Indiana Business and Professional Women. “Today, women comprise a higher percentage of the work force than men, but still find ourselves, for the most part, in lower-paying positions. This is not acceptable.”
Knights-Hale said her organization is encouraged to see women holding high-profile positions, but they remain a very low percentage overall.
“There are more opportunities today for women to obtain higher education than ever before. There are many organizations such as ours that fundraise annually for women’s scholarships, both present-day students and those wanting to return to school to further their education,” Knights-Hale added.
Audra Wilcoxson of Auburn, treasurer for Northeast Indiana Business and Professional Women, echoed Knights-Hale’s sentiments.
Wilcoxson recalled that when she was working in a newspaper classified advertising department in the mid-1970s, a business owner wanted to place an advertisement for an accountant, but wanted the words, “women only,” included in the advertisement.
“I explained to him that I could not do that — it was discriminatory and against the law. He acknowledged that he wanted that wording, as a man would expect a higher salary. When he finally realized that I wouldn’t include ‘women only,’ he instructed me to change the ad to read ‘bookkeeper wanted.’ Forty years later, we are still fighting this inequality even though women are just as educated and just as qualified as men,” Wilcoxson said.
She said Northeast Indiana Business and Professional Women and its state organization will continue to fight against pay inequality and urge business owners to eliminate the wage gap between men and women.
“Eliminating pay inequality is the right and moral thing to do,” Wilcoxson said.
The northeast Indiana report was compiled for Northeast Indiana Works by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development and included data from two U.S. Census Bureau sources: the American Community Survey and Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics.