Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009
Today is Women’s Equality Day.
Yay.
Here’s what women should do to celebrate the 89th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment giving us the right to vote — GET OUT!
After looking over the stats, I’ve concluded Kern County so undervalues its “better half” we’d be better off packing up and heading for greener pastures.
OK, I’m kidding, sort of.
Women shouldn’t have to wander off in search of equality and opportunity. We should create it right here.
And we can, but first, here’s a glimpse of where we live today.
I was prepared to see Kern women’s incomes lower here and there, particularly in certain industries where we haven’t made as many inroads as say, education and health care.
But holy moly, this is bad.
In the job category “health diagnosing and treating practitioners and other technical occupations,” per the U.S. Census, women outnumber men by 60.4 percent to 39.6 percent.
In median annual dollars, however, men earn $100,000+ while women only earn $61,903.
We aren’t talking about file clerks compared to surgeons here. This is apples to apples.
In “educational services,” a so-called “pink ghetto” where women tend to gravitate — 74.6 percent to 25.4 percent — men still out-earn us $43,849 to $29,956.
The list goes on: “professional, scientific and technical services,” $52,894 men, $31,250 women; “architecture and engineering,” $73,534 men, $58,538 women; “legal occupations,” $73,764 men, $69,355 women.
GRRRRR!!!!!!!
To be fair (though why I should be, when our absurdly chauvinist society certainly isn’t?), it’s the same all over.
The wage gap is alive and well throughout California, though it’s more pronounced here with women earning .60 cents to every $1 earned by men (compared to .78 cents to every $1 earned by men nationally), according to the California Employment Development Department.
Some other Kern numbers to chew on:
More women live below the poverty line than men, 18.6 percent to 15 percent.
Fewer women have private health insurance, 44 percent to 55 percent, according to the 2007 California Health Interview Survey.
In 2007, 70 percent of all single-parent families were headed by women and those families accounted for more than 35 percent of all families in poverty, according to census numbers.
Oh, and women here suffer more domestic violence, 49.9 incidents per 10,000 people in 2008 compared to about 45 incidents per 10,000 people statewide, according to RAND California.
Lovely.
OK, so we have our work cut out for us. Which is why we need many more competent, tough, savvy women in political office.
I ranted about this very topic two years ago and things haven’t changed much.
County Board of Supervisors: 5 men, 0 women.
City Council: 3 women, 5 men.
City boards and commissions: Nine women in about 55 positions. Notably, there are zero women on the high-profile, high-powered Planning Commission and three civil service commissions.
County boards and commissions: 115 women in about 412 positions.
Kern High School District Trustees: 5 men, 0 women.
Judges: 34 judgeships, 4 women, that’s up by one from 2007. There are seven court commissioners/referees including one woman, no change from 2007.
In the last general election in Nov. 2008 there were about 144 seats from school boards to special districts up for grabs. There were 75 women candidates and 37 either gained or retained office. That doesn’t count female incumbents who weren’t up for election.
Still, it’s not enough.
We’re gaining parity faster in the Kern County jail than in politics. Female arrests shot up 18 percent between 2003 and 2007, according to the state Department of Justice. Ugh!
Time, money and lack of familiarity are the three biggest barriers I hear about from women. But there are ways around them.
Yes, juggling family and politics is tricky, said former Kern County Supervisor Barbara
Patrick who had one daughter in junior high and the other in high school when she decided to run for office.
“On the other hand, women are very good at multitasking,” she said.
Money? No worries!
In her first campaign, Patrick ran against veteran City Council woman Conni Brunni, a client of political puppet master Mark Abernathy.
“I was significantly outspent,” Patrick recalled. “But we ran a people-to-people campaign, very grass-roots and very successful.”
The other thing Patrick had was a few years on the Planning Commission. “That gave me the courage to move on to elected office,” she said.
Those boards and commissions are key to springboarding into higher office.
Patrick and other members of the California Women Lead Kern County chapter are holding a workshop to teach local women what commission seats are available, what the jobs entail and how to get them.
Mark your calendars for Wednesday Sept. 2 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Bakersfield City Hall South, 1501 Truxtun Ave.
You need to RSVP by Monday, which you can do at http://www.cawomenlead.org/... Or call Kay Pitts at 665-5506 for more info.
Getting on a public board levels the playing field, Patrick said.
“You get a very up-close look at how government works, you learn a lot, you watch elected officials closely and often realize you can do a better job.”
Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/noholdsbarred, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com
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