Pay Equity and Women’s Wage Increases: Success in the States, a Model for the Nation

By 1989, twenty states had implemented programs to raise the wages of workers in female-dominated job classes in their state civil services. A study of these pay equity programs, conducted by the Institute for Women\u27s Policy Research and the Urban Institute, found that all twenty states were successful in closing the female/male wage gap without substantial negative side effects such as increased unemployment. The extent to which the states succeeded depended on many factors including how much money was spent, the proportion of women affected, and the standard to which female wages were raised. As women\u27s responsibilities for their families\u27 wellbeing increase, it is important to explore policies to raise women\u27s wages to levels that are free from discrimination or cultural devaluation. An American woman working full-time year-round in 1992 earned only 71 percent as much as her male counterpart. 1 This represents a substantial increase since 1982 when the wage ratio of female to male earnings was 62 percent. Approximately half of this increase is due to an increase in women\u27s real wages, 2 while the other half is due to a decrease in men\u27s real wages. 3 Despite this considerable advance, the wage gap remains; women still earn less than men even in the same occupations. 4 When different jobs of comparable worth--those requiring similar levels of skill, effort, responsibility, or knowledge--are compared it is even more common to find pay inequities. 5 The persistence of the wage gap compels attention for two ..

Women at Greater Risk of Economic Insecurity: A Gender Analysis of the Rockefeller Foundation's American Worker Survey

Analyzes survey data for differences in anxiety over and experiences of economic insecurity between women and men, workers and non-workers, and parents and non-parents, as well as among women of different races/ethnicities, incomes, and education levels

Statements of Interest: Addendum to the Testimony of 9 To 5, the National Association of Working Women, et al. Before the Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations

Addendum_Lichtman_et_al_040694.pdf: 179 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Glass Ceiling Commission - The Impact of the Glass Ceiling and Structural Change on Minorities and Women

Glass Ceiling ReportGlassCeilingBackground12StructuralChange.pdf: 9391 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Non-native populations of an invasive tree outperform their native conspecifics

Introduced plants often face new environmental conditions in their non-native ranges. To become invasive, they need to overcome several biotic and abiotic filters that may trigger adaptive changes in life-history traits, like postgermination processes. Such early life cycle traits may play a crucial role in the colonization and establishment success of invasive plants. As a previous study revealed that seeds of non-native populations of the woody Siberian elm, Ulmus pumila, germinated faster than those of native populations, we expected growth performance of seedlings to mirror this finding. Here, we conducted a common garden greenhouse experiment using different temperature and watering treatments to compare the biomass production of U. pumila seedlings derived from 7 native and 13 populations from two non-native ranges. Our results showed that under all treatments, non-native populations were characterized by higher biomass production and enhanced resource allocation to aboveground biomass compared to the native populations. The observed enhanced growth performance of non-native populations might be one of the contributing factors for the invasion success of U. pumila due to competitive advantages during the colonization of new sites.Fil: Hirsch, Heidi. Stellenbosch University, Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Botany and Zoology; Sudáfrica. Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden ; AlemaniaFil: Hensen, Isabell. Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden ; Alemania. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig; AlemaniaFil: Wesche, Karsten. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig; Alemania. Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Goerlitz; AlemaniaFil: Renison, Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Wypior, Catherina. Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden ; AlemaniaFil: Hartmann, Matthias. Charles University in Prague, Herbarium PRC & Department of Botany; República ChecaFil: von Wehrden, Henrik. Leuphana University, Institute of Ecology/Faculty of Sustainability, Centre of Methods; Alemania. Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology; Austri

The Classification of Weld Seam Defects for Quantitative Analysis by means of Ultrasonic Testing

The paper describes effective quality assessment of spent nuclear fuel storage cask. The ultrasonic testing method is considered. The classification of possible defects with corresponding dimensions limits is proposed. The database of defects of the spent nuclear fuel storage cask was created in compliance with the nuclear energy industry regulatory documents

Streamlined RI/FS planning for the groundwater operable unit at the Weldon Spring Site

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is conducting cleanup activities at the chemical plant area of the Weldon Spring Site located in St. Charles County, Missouri, about 48 km (30 mi) west of St. Louis and 22 km (14 mi) southwest of the City of St. Charles. The 88-ha (217-acre) chemical plant area is chemically and radioactively contaminated as a result of uranium processing activities conducted by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission during the 1950s and 1960s. The Army also used the chemical plant area for the production of explosives in the 1940s. The Weldon Spring Site chemical plant area was listed on the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1989. Adjacent to the chemical plant area is another NPL site known as the Weldon Spring Ordnance Works. The ordnance works area is a former explosive production facility that manufactured trinitrotoluene (TNT) and dinitrotoluene (DNT) during World War II. The ordnance works area covers 7,000 ha (17,232 acres); cleanup of this site is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CE)

Pathways to environmental inequality : how urban traffic noise annoyance varies across socioeconomic subgroups

The article investigates how socioeconomic background affects noise annoyance caused by residential road traffic in urban areas. It is argued that the effects of socioeconomic variables (migration background, education, and income) on noise annoyance tend to be underestimated because these effects are mainly indirect. We specify three indirect pathways. (1) A “noise exposure path” assumes that less privileged households are exposed to a higher level of noise and therefore experience stronger annoyance. (2) A “housing attributes path” argues that less privileged households can shield themselves less effectively from noise due to unfavorable housing conditions and that this contributes to annoyance. (3) Conversely, an “environmental susceptibility path” proposes that less privileged people are less concerned about the environment and have a lower noise sensitivity, and that this reduces their noise annoyance. Our analyses rest on a study carried out in four European cities (Mainz and Hanover in Germany, Bern and Zurich in Switzerland), and the results support the empirical validity of the three indirect pathways

Environmental inequality in four European cities : a study combining household survey and geo-referenced data

Combining individual-level survey data and geo-referenced administrative noise data for four European cities (Bern, Zurich, Hanover, and Mainz; n = 7,450), we test the social gradient hypothesis, which states that exposure to residential noise is higher for households in a lower socioeconomic position (measured by income and migration background). In addition, we introduce and test the ‘environmental shielding hypothesis’, which states that, given environmental ‘bads’ in the neighbourhood, privileged social groups have better opportunities to shield themselves against them. Our results show that, for many residents of the four cities, observed road traffic and aircraft noise levels are above World Health Organization limits. Estimates of spatial error regression models only partly support the social gradient hypothesis. While we find significant but relatively small income effects and somewhat stronger effects of having a (non-Western) migration background, these effects are not significant in all cities. However, especially high-income households are more capable of avoiding exposure to indoor noise. Due to their residence characteristics and having the resources to maintain high standards of noise protection, these households have more capabilities to shield themselves against environmental bads in their neighbourhood. This supports the environmental shielding hypothesis