There's been a lot to celebrate lately in our collective move toward gender equality. Just yesterday, Charlie Baker signed a pay equity bill into law in Massachusetts, hailed as the strongest in the country. For the first time ever, women are joining the ranks of the military elite and becoming army rangers. Pope Francis just formed a special commission with the aim of women playing bigger roles in the Catholic church.
But it's not all sunshine and roses. For nearly all of these wins, there are continued losses.
Women in this state still earn 83-cents to the dollar men earn. "Not enough. It's absolutely not enough that there are guys with the names of John or David who outnumber the number of women in the boardroom," said CEO Patti Fletcher.
Indeed, part of the wage gap in Massachusetts can be attributed to the executive position gap. Fifteen of the top 100 public companies in Massachusetts are "zero-zeroes", meaning they have an all-male board and no women in the executive suite. Another 44 companies have no women in the executive suite, and 22 have all-male boards.
And for all its hype, Baker's pay equity bill does not actually ensure equal pay. What it does is mandate a process that will make equal pay more attainable, including banning employers from asking about pay history.
Boston Globe Columnist Shirley Leung remains hopeful that the new bill is a step in the right direction. "You have to start somewhere, and it's a great start. For me, I think one of the powerful aspects of the law is it puts employers on notice to say, 'you know, if you review salaries, make sure there is no pay disparities.' I don't think every company does that, and sometimes there are pay disparities just because they aren't looking at the numbers."
So, the change is incremental. But maybe with more women on Beacon Hill, the wheels of change can keep turning. Right now there are only 20 women serving in the U.S. Senate, alongside 80 men -- but in Massachusetts, women are beginning to find real footholds in politics. "We should take a moment to recognize that we've come a long way," said Leung. "I mean, I was at the State House ceremony yesterday where Governor Baker signed the pay equity bill -- yes it took nearly too decades to get that bill -- but it was amazing because speaker after speaker, you realize there is so much female power on Beacon Hill."
From Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito and State Treasurer Deb Goldberg, to House Deputy Speak Pat Haddad, it's good to see that women are elected to political leadership in the Bay State. But how are other industries working to make the workplace equal?
A quarter century ago, Anita Hill made headlines for "changing the world" by coming forward about the sexual harassment she'd endured from her former boss, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. But just last month, many celebrated when Fox News' Roger Ailes was fired after network anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment complaint against the CEO. Its seems that every time a woman comes forward, the public is quick to say that things are changing, while many women continue to work in an environment of sexual harassment.
WGBH News' Margery Eagan says that the stakes are high for women in the workforce. "I think what happened at [Fox News] probably is that [Carlson] said, 'am I going to put up with this jerk and make $200 grand a year and have a wonderful career, or am I going to turn him in and guarantee that I'm going to be black balled,' because that's what happens." But, Eagan says that if you're at a "regular, run of the mill company," you are given more options to voice your compliant. "I mean, I am old enough to remember when there were no women in the newspaper business....And you talk about sexual harassment -- I mean, that was just like, part of the job, I mean you had to run faster than the guy who was chasing you around the desk. There was no one to complain to, no human resources to call up."
And, as Eagan notes, the bosses are not all men anymore. Just tune in to 89.7 from 11-2 pm every weekday if you want to hear Eagan take command of some air time.
