FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 28, 2003
Contact: NASW Public Affairs Lahne Mattas-Curry 202-336-8228 lcurry at naswdc.org Gail Woods-Waller 202-336-8236 gwaller at naswdc.org
Study Finds Social Work and Other Female-Dominated Fields Suffer from Low Pay
Washington-- In the January issue of Social Work: The Journal of the National Association of Social Workers, a social work researcher finds evidence to support that the more a service profession is dominated by women, the lower the worker's average weekly salary.
"The data revealed that as the percentage of women in the identified occupational groups increases, the weekly salary decreases," Margaret Gibelman, DSW, director of Yeshiva University's Wurzweiler School of Social Work said. "Minor exceptions exist in specific industries, but within the groupings of industries, the pattern is consistent and strong."
Using year-end Bureau of Labor Statistics data from 1998, Gibelman looked at service industry jobs with 75 percent or more women, those with between 50 percent and 75 percent women, and those with less than 50 percent women.
"These patterns in different professions and industries suggest the continued pervasiveness of salary inequities," Gibelman adds. "Are the services performed by nurses (predominantly women) less valuable in this society than the services performed by surveyors (predominantly men)? One would be hard- pressed to make such a case." (Nursing and personal-care facility staff made an average weekly salary of $318.18, compared to surveyors, who made an average of $522.77 per week.)
Equal work for equal pay has been part of political and legislative agendas since the 1960s, notes Gibelman. Yet most or all of the initiatives related to the topic have lacked sufficient specificity to eradicate the problem. And it's likely that government support of this legal right will continue to wane in the same manner as its support of equal rights more generally, she writes.
Female social workers and other women in the human service professions, therefore, must take matters into their own hands and devise and implement strategies to combat this continued inequity, Gibelman contends. These can include group action, such as determining the pay scale in one's own institution and collectively taking action if it is inequitable; professional action, for example sending educational newsletters through a main membership organization; and policy action, such as political advocacy.
Female social workers should take these steps not just for themselves, but for their clients, she adds, "Many social work clients are women who are not getting adequately paid. Asserting one's right to equitable pay can provide them with good role modeling."
For a complete copy of the study, journalists may contact NASW Public Affairs at media at naswdc.org.
Gilbelman, Margaret, "So How Far Have We Come? Pestilent and Persistent Gender Gap in Pay," Social Work, January 2003, Vol. 48, No. 1/22-32.
March 2003 represents National Social Work Awareness Month--please consider a story on social work during the month of March. For more information about Social Work Month, please visit www.socialworkers.org or contact NASW Public Affairs at media at naswdc.org.
The National Association of Social Workers (NASW), in Washington, DC, is the largest membership organization of professional social workers with 150,000 members. It promotes, develops and protects the practice of social work and social workers. NASW also seeks to enhance the well being of individuals, families and communities through its work and through its advocacy.
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