Via: Culture Map
By: John Egan
A new study reveals something that most of probably already know: Most women still lag behind their male counterparts when it comes to equal pay. But if you’re in Dallas County, you’re better off — sort of — than your friends in the suburbs.
The study looked at women in three Dallas-area counties — Dallas, Collin, and Denton — and found that, in the area of parity, Dallas County women have it the best:
- Women in Dallas County earn 92.6 cents for every $1 earned by men in the same county.
- Women in Collin County earn 70.3 cents for every $1 earned by men.
- Women in Denton County make 76.2 cents for every $1 made by men.
However, Dallas County women’s overall salaries are lower. The median annual earnings for women in Dallas County are $37,511 — near the state average. Women in Denton County and Collin County collect much higher annual earnings — $46,362 and $50,691, respectively.
The study was produced by the Dallas Women’s Foundation, a group that works to advance positive social and economic change; and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
Roslyn Dawson Thompson, Dallas Women’s Foundation president and CEO, says in a release that it’s going to be a few decades before parity is achieved.
“Although women in Texas have made progress, they still face inequities that prevent them from reaching their full potential,” she says. “If trends continue, Texas women will not achieve equal pay until 2049.”
And unfortunately, things haven’t improved much in the last decade.
“Texas receives a C- for women’s employment and earnings and a D for women’s poverty and opportunity, grades that decreased and remained the same, respectively, since the 2004 study was conducted,” she says.
Along racial and ethnic lines, Asian-Pacific Islander women in Collin County have the highest annual earnings among women in the three counties ($64,907), with Hispanic women in Dallas County sitting at the bottom ($25,345), the study says.
Other highlights of the study include:
- Hispanic women in Collin, Dallas and Denton counties who work full time earn less than half of what white men earn. In Dallas County, for instance, Hispanic women take in just 38.4 cents for every $1 earned by white men in the same county.
- In each of the three counties, black women have the highest rate of participation in the workforce.
- The share of women holding down management or professional jobs varies by county, from a low of 37.9 percent in Dallas County to a high of 53.9 percent in Collin County. Hispanic women in Collin, Dallas and Denton counties are the group of women least likely to work in such positions.
- Fewer than 10 percent of Hispanic women in Dallas County hold a bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree, while more than 70 percent of Asian-Pacific Islander women in Collin County have achieved that level of education.
- Just 74 percent of women in Dallas County have health insurance, compared with 85.8 percent in Denton County and 87.7 percent in Collin County. In all three counties, Hispanic women are the least likely to have health insurance.
- White women in Collin County have the lowest poverty rate (5.3 percent) among women in the three counties, and Hispanic women in Dallas County have the highest poverty rate (22.8 percent).