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Working Women Tell Survey: It’s the Economy! |
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Working women are spending more and more time on the job with less time for themselves and their families. But the nation’s souring economy is such a major concern, most say they would use any extra time to work a second job.
The more than 12,000 women who took the sixth Ask a Working Woman survey online—released today by Working America and the AFL-CIO—also said the top item that would make their lives easier is a 10 percent raise. While issues such as affordable health care and quality child care remain major concerns for working women, paying the bills, buying the groceries, filling the tank and paying the rent and mortgage is what worries them most.
Judith, a 2008 Ask a Working Woman survey respondent, wrote:
Prices for everything have soared out of control while wages stagnate.
Karen Nussbaum, executive director of Working America, says working women are caught in a bind between struggling to keep the checkbook balanced and finding time for family life.
Working women want to spend more time with their families, but they can’t afford to. Working women say they want more cash in their wallets, even more than other benefits, like health care. Unemployment is up, the credit crunch is squeezing people and gas prices are hitting record highs. America’s working women need a raise and a break.
The survey found that working women are spending so much time at work that 42 percent say they talk to their co-workers more than their children or friends. They also say they have little time for themselves, with 37 percent saying they work during their breaks or have no breaks at work. After work and family responsibilities, some 43 percent say they have less than an hour a day for themselves and 72 percent of working women who are parents report less than an hour of downtime a day.
The worsening economy is hitting hard at working women, saddling them with debt as well as rising prices. Working women are using their credit cards to pay for durable goods and everyday items. Says Kelly:
I have to choose every day if I am going to buy food or gas to get to work. Gas always wins, because I need my paycheck to support my family. I never have enough money, ever.
Sixty percent of respondents have at least some credit card debt, and many won’t be able to pay off their credit cards in the near future. A quarter say they will be able to pay off their balance within the next year, 12 percent say within the next two years and 18 percent say it will take more than two years. Six percent say they will never be able to pay off credit card debt.
Other findings from the survey include:
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Nearly half say they know or believe that men are being paid more than women. Two-thirds believe that being male, younger or more attractive would increase their chances of promotion. And 80 percent say “having children hurts their career and prospects in the job market” but note that men suffer no such problem if they have children.
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A majority of survey respondents have some form of paid sick leave. But very many women use their sick days, vacation or other paid leave to care for sick children, parents or other family members.
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Eighty percent of the respondents say they identify with the goals and ideals of feminism, and 43 percent feel strongly about it. And they are not just hoping for change: 90 percent say they voted in the past election, and six in 10 support efforts to encourage voting by women.
The online survey was conducted from May 7 to June 20, and the results will be provided to candidates running at all levels of public office to help shape the policy agendas of incoming lawmakers. Click here for more survey results.
2 Comments
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I am a Certified Public Accountant in L.A., CA, founder of Potts International and an author. I have traveled the nation with my wife teaching financial workshops to audiences that tend to be by in large filled with women.
I empathize with the working class American women. In our second book, my wife and I discuss underearning and some of the steps people can take to overcome poverty through obtaining additional training. We also discuss not settling for less than they deserve, which is pay commensurate with their skill level.
As Christians, we also believe that our faith has helped us overcome some very tough financial times in our lives. Know that there is hope. Things can and will get better if you make a decision to improve your quality of life and refuse to be denied!
There’s nothing like pie in the sky to help working women, is there? Just get a little more training, attend a seminar, reach for your bootstraps—what about equal pay for equal work here and now? What about respect for women on the job today? How about respect for the family when illness or tragedy strikes, so we can keep our jobs and our benefits after the danger has passed?
I’m a very spiritual woman, a Catholic, and I have to say that even as I pray the Rosary for world peace, I can’t put all my eggs in one basket. My faith gives me the strength to fight for social justice—but that justice has to come to us all, regardless of belief, and without reaching into an already strained pocketbook.
Many of us working women would take to the streets in a heartbeat to save our families—some of us have, in the form of strikes and protests. But for the most part, we’re at work trying to stay afloat, and then straight home to preserve our families’ futures. What we need is a government that understands equality and justice enough to offer real protections to working families, not just hope. Hope has not been enough.