Unions
It has been shown that union membership is important for women because it raises the wages of women and decreases the pay gap between men and women. Women union members tend to work in areas such as teaching nursing and the public sector. These areas also tend to be dominated by women. Male union members tend to be blue collar workers, but female union members are more likely than men to be college educated (Braunstein et al, 1999).
Being a union member uncreases the wages of women. Unionized women earn an average of $2.50 more per hour than non-unionized women. The pay gap between men and women union members is also smaller ($2.77 per hour) than non-unionized men and women ($3.45 per hour) Women in unions earn $0.75 for every dollar a man works compared to $0.68 per dollar for non-unionized women (Braunstein et al, 1999). Unions are beneficial in many respects, they increase women's wages and decrease the pay gap between men and women.
9to5
9to5 is an organization that is designed to help women. They answer questions about job problems and hold workshops on how to ask for a raise, plan for retirement, and organize to win better treatment. In addition to empowering women, 9to5 helped change the policy environment like sexual harassment, family leave, pay equity, and child care (Bravo, 1999). 9to5 has worked hard to make the problems women workers face visible and to find solution. For more information on this organization go to 9to5: National Association of Working Women.
Braunstien, J. Shaw, L. and Dennis, R. 1999. "What do Unions do for Women." In Kesselman et al. Women: Images and Realities: A Multicultural Anthology. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. Pp. 224-227.
Bravo, E. and Santa Anna, G. 1999. "9to5: Organizing Low-Wage Women." In Kesselman et al. Women: Images and Realities: A Multicultural Anthology. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. Pp. 227-230.
9to5 National Association of Working Women aims to put more power in the hands of all women. 9to5 helped raise the expectations of low-wage women by holding workshop to help women with issues such as asking for a raise and other work related topics. This web site is very informational but also promotes women to join the 9to5 organization. This alternative goal may influence the other articles in the site. This website is a great website for women concerned with strangthening their ability to work for econominc justice.
Feminist.com feminist.com is an online organization dedicated to women's issues. They are trying to help make networking for women easy to do. They want to make a place for women to meet, become aware, become active, educate, and empower women. Feminist.com is sponsered by New Moon: The Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams, individual donations, and advertisements. While this site is very informational, it is also biased by income from feminist organizations. Despite all of this, this site still has some very useful links like Affirmative Action Personal Stories and 9to5 National Association of Working Women and is overall, a good place to get information on women's issues.
Image from http://www.9to5.org/