The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to approve the creation of a five-year initiative to better address the disproportionate disadvantages and burdens faced by LA County women and girls.
The motion was co-authored by Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Hilda Solis.
In LA County today:
– 1 out of 5 women lives below the Federal poverty level.
– Women earn an average of 20% less than men for the same work and often have the additional expense of childcare.
– Since women earn less and disproportionately shoulder the burden of child care, they save less. Of women age 75 and older, 17 percent live below the poverty line, twice as many as their male counterparts.
– The number of homeless women has increased 55% over the past three years.
Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, said, “This critical initiative will address a longstanding blindspot in our policies and services to better address the real-life needs and barriers faced by women and girls and to make a commitment to devoting time and resources to help. We ask women to juggle work and family, make their scarce resources go farther, and adapt to systems tailored for men. Now it’s time for LA County to make the system fair for everyone.”
Supervisor Hilda Solis, said, “By asking County departments to apply a ‘gender lens’ to our programs, services, and jobs, we intend to root out systemic inequality in Los Angeles County. Our goal is to make Los Angeles County a more equitable place to live, work, go to school and play for the 5.1 million women and girls who live here.”
The motion establishing a five-year County Initiative on Women and Girls calls for extensive research and community input and is expected to make recommendations for action by the Board of Supervisors. Although the motion is not prescriptive, given the challenges women face, those recommendations might include policies to make child care more affordable, close the gap between male and female full-time workers and the gap between full and part-time wages, and expand the availability of sick leave as well as family medical leave.
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Can someone please identify those companies that have policies which pay females less than males? In my long business career, I have never experienced pay scales that favored males.