Noticing Women’s Business and Women’s Pay…say it isn’t so

Lewis Green at l-gsolutions posted a query last month: “Are women-owned
businesses growing at such a rapid rate because that is the best way for women
to overcome a subtle but real male-dominated business environment that
discriminates against women unconsciously and without malice but with harmful
effects?”

The question has been on my mind and in my discussions with other women. Frankly, I don’t know if that’s the only reason for huge growth in women-owned businesses. New Mexico ranks highly, 11th in the nation for women-owned businesses, according to Association of Women’s Business Centers. The state ranks 42nd for women’s pay.

Earlier this spring a Women’s organization – Business and Professional Women whose mission is to advance the cause of all working women – formed a wage club. A waitress at the restaurant hosting the preview event discovered that she was being paid $1.00 less per hour than her male counterpart. Although she did receive a raise as a result of her complaint, she was released from service a few days later.

Evelyn Murphy wrote “Getting Even: Why Women Don’t Get Paid Like Men and What to do About it,” a book which is being used as the foundation of the New Mexico Wage Club. Murphy contends that a woman will lose $700,000 to $2 million in earnings over the course of her lifetime because she earns consistently less on the dollar than her male counterparts. For a fact sheet on starting a wage club, click here.

If there is discrimination, I find that there is less reaction. Are women afraid to rock the boat? Is there a bias against women? And, if such a bias exists, does anyone care?