FACTORY FLAW THE ATTRITION AND RETENTION OF WOMEN IN MANUFACTURING - AAUW

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FACTORY
FLAW
THE ATTRITION AND
RETENTION OF WOMEN
IN MANUFACTURING
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Factory Flaw: The Attrition and Retention of Women in Manufacturing was researched and
written by Lauren Haumesser, Ph.D., AAUW Research Associate and Melissa Mahoney,
Ph.D., independent consultant. Kate Nielson, J.D., AAUW Director of Public Policy and Legal
Advocacy, and Leticia Tomas Bustillos, Ph.D., AAUW Federal Policy Manager, provided
additional support in developing recommendations.
  AAUW is thankful to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Coalition of
Labor Union Women, Women in Manufacturing, and DuPont Specialty Products for circulating
our survey of women in manufacturing jobs on which a portion of our analysis is based.
  AAUW gratefully acknowledges the generous support of The Arconic Foundation, which
made this report and its publication possible.
FOREWORD

     A           cornerstone of AAUW’s commitment to ensuring economic security for women
     is our work to close the gender pay gap. For much of our 140-year history, we have been
     working to ensure that equal pay becomes the law of the land. And while there has been
     significant movement since we began our efforts, that progress seems to have stalled over
     the past several decades—and a stubborn pay gap remains.
      One of the prime explanations for this persistent gap is the fact that women tend to work
     in jobs and in industries that pay less than those fields dominated by men. Nowhere is this
     more apparent than in manufacturing, where women make up only about one-third of all
     employees—and the industry subsectors in which women work are among the lowest paid.
      This report, made possible by a generous grant from The Arconic Foundation, explores
     the barriers to women in manufacturing and examines what can be done to encourage
     women to enter, thrive and advance in this industry. In removing barriers for women in
     manufacturing, we also aim to ensure more women persist in the sector, reducing attrition
     rates. Doing so is an essential endeavor: Not only will women and their families gain from
     having access to these well-paying jobs, but the industry will benefit richly from skills, talents
     and diversity that more women can bring.
      AAUW’s research reports, such as this one, inform and advance our ongoing programs,
     our work with employers and our advocacy efforts with state and federal policy makers.
     We hope Factory Flaw: The Attrition and Retention of Women in Manufacturing will inspire
     and empower others to join us in our efforts to increase the presence—and the power—of
     women in the manufacturing world.

     Julia T. Brown, Esq.		             Kimberly Churches
     Board Chair 			                    Chief Executive Officer

                            www.aauw.org   •1
INTRODUCTION

F        or years, Americans have worried about the loss of
manufacturing jobs. But while the number of Americans
employed in the manufacturing industry has declined
                                                                 toxic work environments—such as those caused by sexual
                                                                 harassment—are likely to earn less in their new jobs.6 This
                                                                 experience may be particularly pronounced for women who
dramatically since the late 1970s, that trend has reversed       leave manufacturing, since jobs in the industry tend to pay
in the last decade: In January 2010, 11.6 million Americans      well and have good benefits relative to other private-sector
worked in manufacturing; by January 2020, 12.8 million did.1     jobs.7 But research also indicates a number of reasons
   The recent uptick in manufacturing is good news for           women stay in their jobs, including satisfaction with their
workers. Across demographics, workers in manufacturing           employer’s paid family leave and flexible work policies.8
jobs make more, on average, than the population as a             None of these studies, however, focuses specifically on
whole.2 This is especially true for women, who make 11.5%        women in manufacturing jobs.
more than their counterparts in other private-sector jobs.3        The economics research on women’s experiences in
Manufacturing jobs also tend to offer good benefits relative     manufacturing is similarly thin. A small body of research
to other private-sector jobs.                                    shows the decline in manufacturing employment was
   Yet too few women are able to take advantage of this wage     particularly hard on women without a college education, as
premium: Only 29.2% of all manufacturing employees are           employers are looking increasingly to hire workers for more
women. This gender imbalance is, of course, bad for women.       highly-skilled jobs.9 Additional evidence suggests that the
It is also bad for employers, who have reported difficulties     decline in manufacturing has affected even those women
in finding workers qualified for jobs in high-tech subfields     who do not work in the industry. By reducing employment
such as computer manufacturing. To help women and their          opportunities, for instance, the decline in manufacturing has
employers, it is important to understand whether women are       contributed to increased opioid usage and opioid- and other
leaving their manufacturing jobs, why they do so and how         drug-related deaths since the late 1990s and early 2000s.10
employers can encourage them to stay.                            Opioid use could also damage women’s job prospects if, for
   Little research has been done on women’s experiences in       example, they were to fail an employer’s mandatory drug test.
blue-collar industries in general—let alone manufacturing        But none of this research explains directly why women leave
in particular. But social scientists have identified a number    the manufacturing industry.
of reasons women leave jobs in other industries. Women             In short, then, there is no research on women’s attrition
who experience sexual harassment and women who                   from manufacturing jobs—despite the fact that the industry
encounter a glass ceiling are more likely to leave their jobs    has grown over the last decade and that manufacturing jobs
than those who do not.4 And women who work in industries         can afford women long-term economic security.
dominated by men like manufacturing are more likely to             This study aims to remedy that gap by assessing four
experience sexual harassment and sense they are being            areas of concern: the status of women in manufacturing,
passed over for promotions.5 Moreover, women who leave           whether women in manufacturing are more likely to leave

                                                      2   • www.aauw.org
 he loss of
                                                                         T
                                                                         manufacturing jobs
                                                                         in the early 2000s
                                                                         disproportionately
                                                                         hurt women. Even
                                                                         as the industry
                                                                         has started to
                                                                         recover, women
                                                                         in manufacturing
their jobs than women working in other industries, why
women leave manufacturing jobs and what might encourage                  face persistent
them to stay. To study these questions, we designed,
collected and analyzed survey data from 214 women who
                                                                         problems—including
work in the manufacturing industry in the United States;                 sexual harassment,
                                                                         inequality in pay
the survey ran between April and July 2020. We analyzed
employment and wage trends in U.S. manufacturing over
the last two decades using aggregate data published by
the Bureau of Labor Statistics and calculations made from
                                                                         and promotions, and
the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey Outgoing                   dissatisfaction with
Rotation Group (CPS ORG).
  Our research found that women have been significantly                  family leave—and
affected by the overall decline in the industry over the last few
decades. The decline in manufacturing has affected women
                                                                         are more likely to
directly—in the form of lost jobs and wages—and indirectly, on           leave their jobs
other dimensions of well-being. Less educated women who
cannot fill the increasingly highly skilled jobs in the industry
                                                                         than women in
were particularly hard hit. Using data from 2018 and 2019, we            other industries.
also identified a number of factors that make women more or
less likely to leave their manufacturing jobs. Overall, women in
manufacturing are more likely to leave their jobs than women
in other industries. But certain subsets of women—older
women, mothers, women living in rural areas, union members,
and Black and Asian women—were less likely to leave their
jobs. Experiencing sexual harassment, sensing that they are
outnumbered by men and being passed over for promotions
and raises also increase the likelihood that women will leave
their jobs. Being satisfied with paid family-leave policies and
the availability of flexible work measures, on the other hand,
can make women more likely to stay. At the end of the report,
we offer recommendations to employers and policymakers to
improve retention of women in manufacturing jobs.

                                                         www.aauw.org   •3
STATUS OF WOMEN IN
MANUFACTURING
Manufacturing                    that period (see Figure                                  Women work in a variety                  textile products at 53.5%.
employment declined              1). This modest uptick in                                of manufacturing                         Women workers made up
from 2000 to 2010,               employment is a function of                              subsectors.                              the lowest share of total
rebounded since 2010 for         broader economic recovery                                In 2019, women worked                    employment in subsectors
both men and women.              and increased manufacturing                              35.7% of all jobs in                     such as primary metals
According to data from the       output following the 2008                                nondurable goods                         (14.3%), wood products
Bureau of Labor Statistics       financial crisis and the Great                           manufacturing and                        (14.9%), nonmetallic
(BLS), total employment in       Recession.                                               23.9% in durable goods                   mineral products (16.5%),
manufacturing declined by           Despite the fluctuations in                           manufacturing (see Table                 and petroleum and coal
4.4 million jobs between         employment over the last 20                              1). Yet they made up the                 products (16.9%). All of
January 2000 and January         years, women’s share in total                            bulk of employment in two                these–with the exception
2020—a 26% reduction. The        manufacturing employment                                 subsectors, both of which                of petroleum and coal
culprits in this decline are     hovered around 29%                                       are in nondurable goods:                 products–are in durable
capital-intensive production,    throughout the period.                                   apparel at 67.3% and                     goods manufacturing.
the automation of production
in manufacturing, and                  Figure 1. T
                                                    otal Employment and Women’s Employment
international competition—                         in U.S. Manufacturing, 2000 to 2020
particularly from countries
                                                         18,000
like China, where there are
large pools of relatively                                17,000
inexpensive unskilled labor.11                           16,000
The decline in employment
hit women workers harder                                 15,000
than men: Women lost 31%                                 14,000
of their jobs in the industry
(from about 5.4 to 3.7                                   13,000
                                  EMPLOYEES, THOUSANDS

million) whereas men lost                                12,000
23% of their positions (11.9
                                                         11,000
to 9.2 million).
   As can be seen in Figure                              10,000
1, however, the industry
                                                          9,000
has begun to rebound
since 2010. From January                                  8,000
2000 to January 2010, total
                                                          7,000
employment in the industry
declined by 34%, with                                     6,000
women losing relatively more
                                                          5,000
jobs than did men.12 From
2010 to 2020, on the other                                4,000
hand, the industry added 1.4
                                                          3,000
million jobs, a 12% increase.
                                                                  2000   2002      2004     2006    2008      2010       2012        2014       2016        2018       2020
Women’s and men’s
employment rebounded at                                                               n All employees   n Women employees
the same rate (12%) over         Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the Current Employment Statistics survey. Accessed May 21, 2020.

                                                                          4     • www.aauw.org
Table 1. A
           verage hourly earnings, employment and employment changes in U.S. manufacturing by
          subsector, 2000 to 2019. (Subsectors ranked by share of women in employment.)

                                                          Share of                                                              Total Employment Changes
                                                         Women in      Average      Total Employment (in 1,000s)          2000 to 2010            2010 to 2019
                                                         Subsector      Hourly
                                                        Employment      Wage                                             Total        %          Total       %
                                                         -Feb 2019    -Feb 2019      2000         2010       2019      (1,000s)     Change     (1,000s)    Change

 Manufacturing                                              28.3        27.48       17,263       11,528     12,840      -5,735       -33%       1,312       11%
    Durable Goods                                           23.9        28.95       10,877       7,064      8,059       -3,813       -35%        995        14%
    Nondurable goods                                        35.7        24.95       6,386        4,464      4,781       -1,922       -30%        317         7%

 Subsectors
 Apparel                                                    67.3        21.78        484          157        110         -327        -68%        -46        -30%
 Textile product mills                                      53.5        19.58        230          119        113         -111        -48%         -6         -5%
 Miscellaneous durable goods manufacturing                  42.3        25.98        728          567        618         -161        -22%         51         9%
 Printing and related support activities                    39.4         23.2        807          488        425         -319        -40%        -63        -13%
 Food manufacturing                                         38.3        20.98        1553        1451        1643        -103         -7%        193        13%
 Textile mills                                              37.8         20.8        378          119        109         -259        -69%        -10         -9%
 Miscellaneous nondurable goods manufacturing               37.7        25.84        276          211        314          -65        -23%        103        49%
 Chemicals                                                  32.6         32.4        980          787        850         -194        -20%         63         8%
 Computer and electronic products                           31.8        36.75       1,820        1,095      1,081        -725        -40%        -14         -1%
    Semiconductors and electronic components                33.9        32.19        676          369        377         -307        -45%          8         2%
    Electronic instruments                                  30.7        40.26        488          406        424          -81        -17%         18         4%
    Communications equipment                                30.5         38.2        239          117         84         -121        -51%        -34        -29%
 Plastics and rubber products                               31.5        23.84        951          625        737         -326        -34%        112        18%
 Electrical equipment and appliances                        30.1          28         591          360        405         -231        -39%         46        13%
 Motor vehicles and parts                                   26.8        26.87       1,314         679        999         -635        -48%        320        47%
 Furniture and related products                             25.5        22.03        680          357        388         -323        -47%         31         9%
 Transportation equipment                                   24.2        32.58       2,057        1,333      1,734        -724        -35%        401        30%
 Paper and paper products                                    24          26.4        605          395        365         -210        -35%        -29         -7%
 Machinery                                                   19         29.79       ,1457         996       1,126        -461        -32%        130        13%
 Fabricated metal products                                  18.9        25.22       1,753        1,282      1,492        -471        -27%        210        16%
 Petroleum and coal products                                16.9        42.97        123          114        115          -9          -8%         1          1%
 Nonmetallic mineral products                               16.5        25.31        554          371        422         -183        -33%         51        14%
 Wood products                                              14.9        21.07        615          342        409         -273        -44%         67        19%
 Primary metals                                             14.3        27.22        622          362        385         -260        -42%         23         6%

Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the Current Employment Statistics survey. Accessed May 23, 2020; BLS, Employment and
Earnings Data, Table B-5a. Employment of women on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted. Accessed May 23, 2020; BLS, Employment and Earnings Data,
Table B-3a.Average hourly and weekly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted. Accessed May 24, 2020

  Between 2000 and 2010,                  added in 17 of the 24                      jobs were cut over the period.               Women are
job losses were particularly              manufacturing subsectors                   These declines are due in                    underrepresented
acute in subsectors                       shown in Table 1 between                   large part to trade exposure,                in higher-paying
dominated by women                        2010 and 2019. It is notable,              particularly from China, since               manufacturing
such as apparel and textile               however, that apparel,                     work in this subsector tends                 subsectors.
products, which cut 68%                   which has a long history                   to be labor intensive and thus               Manufacturing subsectors
and 48% of all workers,                   of employing women,                        more easily substitutable                    in which women workers
respectively. Jobs were                   continued to shrink: 30% of                with cheaper imports.13                      are more represented tend

                                                                       www.aauw.org         •5
to pay lower hourly wages.     diploma also declined from                       (see Figure 2). Higher                           Those with only a high
Indeed, the share of women     about 15% to 9%. At the                          education has also become                        school diploma lost 609,000
employed in a subsector        same time, college and                           more important for men                           positions (a 29% decline),
and average hourly wages       graduate education has                           in manufacturing, but the                        those with less than a high
are negatively correlated      become more important                            change is not as dramatic                        school degree lost 314,000
by 32%. Take, for example,     for women in the industry.                       as for women (see Figure                         positions (a 42% decline)
the difference in wages and    In 2003, 19% of women’s                          3). In 2019, 20% of men in                       and those with some college
representation in durable      jobs in manufacturing were                       manufacturing held at least                      lost 153,000 positions (a
and nondurable goods. In       held by those with at least a                    a college degree, compared                       12% decline). Offsetting
February 2019, women           four-year college degree–by                      to 32% of women.                                 these losses, women with
accounted for only 23.9%       2019, 33% were. In fact,                           In terms of the total                          at least a bachelor’s degree
of workers in durable goods    by 2018, more women                              number of jobs, between                          gained employment in
manufacturing jobs, which      in manufacturing had a                           2003 and 2019 women                              manufacturing over the
paid $28.95 per hour—$1.47     college degree than had                          without a bachelor’s degree                      period. Employment by
above the average of $27.48    only a high school diploma                       lost jobs in manufacturing.                      women with a college
for all manufacturing
jobs. Yet they accounted
for 35.7% of workers in        Men are more likely than women to hold the
nondurable goods jobs,
which paid below-average
                               highest-paying manufacturing jobs: Only 17% of
wages ($24.95 per hour).       workers in the petroleum and coal fields, which
Another example: Women
made up only 16.9% of          pay almost $43 an hour, are women. But women
workers in the petroleum
and coal products
                               account for more than half of workers in textile
subsectors, which paid         jobs, which pay under $20 an hour.
the highest wages of any
subsector in 2019 ($42.97),
                                 Figure 2. S
                                            hare of Women’s Manufacturing Employment
but they accounted for
                                           by Education Level, 2003 to 2019
53.5% of workers in textile
                                 45%
product mills, which paid
the lowest wage ($19.58) of
                                 40%
any subsector that year.
                                 35%
Undergraduate and
graduate education has           30%
become more important
for women’s employment           25%
in manufacturing.
Historically, manufacturing      20%
has been a good source of
employment for both men          15%
and women who hold a high
school diploma or less. But      10%
between 2003 and 2019,
the share of manufacturing         5%

jobs held by women with
                                   0%
only a high school degree               2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
declined from 41% to 32%.14                              n Less than High School n High School n Some College n College or more
The share held by those
                               Source: Author’s calculations from CEPR data. n.d. “CPS Outgoing Rotation Group.” CEPR Data. http://ceprdata.org/cps-uniform-data-extracts/cps-
with less than a high school   outgoing-rotation-group/ (accessed June 4, 2020).

                                                                6   • www.aauw.org
degree increased by 41%,           Figure 3. Share of Men’s Manufacturing Employment
or 307,000 jobs, and those                    by Education Level, 2003 to 2019
with advanced degrees
                                   45%
increased employment
in manufacturing by a              40%
staggering 95%, or 227,000
jobs.                              35%

  These figures illustrate         30%
the fact that American
employers are seeking to           25%
hire workers with more
                                   20%
education to fill more highly-
skilled jobs than they did in      15%
the past.
                                   10%
White women still
                                     5%
make up the majority of
women in manufacturing,              0%
but their share of                        2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
employment in the                                          n Less than High School n High School n Some College n College or more
industry has fallen while        Source: Author’s calculations from CEPR data. n.d. “CPS Outgoing Rotation Group.” CEPR Data. http://ceprdata.org/cps-uniform-data-extracts/cps-
                                 outgoing-rotation-group/ (accessed June 4, 2020).
that of employment
of Hispanic and Asian
                                   Figure 4. S
                                              hare of Women’s Manufacturing Employment
women has increased.
                                             by Race and Ethnicity, 2003 to 2019
Between 2003 and 2019,
                                   70%
white women’s share of
employment decreased
from 66% to 58% (Figure            60%
4). The employment share
of Hispanic women, on the          50%
other hand, increased from
15% in 2003 to 20% in 2019.        40%
For Black and Asian women,
their respective shares in         30%
employment stayed about
the same over the entire           20%
period. For Black women,
this was at about 11% of
                                   10%
total women’s employment
and for Asian women, it was
                                     0%
about 8%.                                 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
  In terms of number of
                                                                               n White n Hispanic n Black n Asian
manufacturing jobs, only         Source: Author’s calculations from CEPR data. n.d. “CPS Outgoing Rotation Group.” CEPR Data. http://ceprdata.org/cps-uniform-data-extracts/cps-
Asian and Hispanic women         outgoing-rotation-group/ (accessed June 4, 2020).

saw gains between 2003
and 2019. But while Asian        subsectors. Of the 76,000                        manufacturing (30,000). On                       of the 141,000 jobs Hispanic
women have gained jobs           jobs Asian women gained,                         average, jobs in chemical                        women gained, however,
in relatively well-paying        most were in chemical                            manufacturing and                                were in food manufacturing
subsectors, Hispanic             manufacturing (36,000),                          transportation equipment                         (121,000 jobs)—jobs that are
women have gained jobs           transportation equipment                         are relatively well paid in the                  relatively lower-skilled and
in relatively low-paying         (31,000), and food                               industry.15 The vast majority                    lower-paid.16

                                                                  www.aauw.org          •7
Prime working-age                  Figure 5. Women’s Manufacturing Employment by Age, 2003 to 2019
women and men lost jobs
                                                         16
in manufacturing, while
those aged 55+ gained
jobs between 2003 and                                    14

2019.
Across the board, workers                                12
aged 25 to 54 lost jobs in

                                Employment in 100,000s
manufacturing between                                    10
2003 and 2019. The loss
was most significant for                                 8
those aged 35 to 44 (See
Figures 5 and 6). Women                                  6
in this age group lost 35%
of their jobs over the period                            4
(522,000 jobs), whereas
men lost 31% (1.1 million                                2
positions). Workers aged
55+, on the other hand, saw                              0
large gains in this period.                                   2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Women aged 55 to 64                                                  n 16 to 19 n 20 to 24 n 25 to 34 n 35 to 44 n 45 to 54 n 55 to 64 n 65+
increased their employment      Source: Author’s calculations from CEPR data. n.d. “CPS Outgoing Rotation Group.” CEPR Data. http://ceprdata.org/cps-uniform-data-extracts/cps-
                                outgoing-rotation-group/ (accessed June 4, 2020).
by 45% (284,000 jobs).
Men in this age group saw              Figure 6. Men’s Manufacturing Employment by Age, 2003 to 2019
a 57% increase in their
                                                         40
employment (839,000 jobs).
Individuals over age 65
                                                         35
saw the largest percentage
gains in employment of                                   30
any age group: Women
                                Employment in 100,000s

saw a 135% gain in their                                 25
employment (148,000 jobs),
whereas men had a 130%                                   20
increase in employment
(309,000 jobs). At least                                 15
two factors could explain
these trends: a decline in                               10
the appeal of manufacturing
jobs among prime-age                                     5
workers, particularly as the
wage premium relative to                                 0
other industries has shrunk;                                  2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
and older workers putting                                            n 16 to 19 n 20 to 24 n 25 to 34 n 35 to 44 n 45 to 54 n 55 to 64 n 65+
off retirement because they     Source: Author’s calculations from CEPR data. n.d. “CPS Outgoing Rotation Group.” CEPR Data. http://ceprdata.org/cps-uniform-data-extracts/cps-
                                outgoing-rotation-group/ (accessed June 4, 2020).
need extra earnings to make
ends meet.                      From 2003 to 2019, union                               2). But over the same                         Though the loss of
                                members lost a significant                             period, men who were not                   collective bargaining hurts
Only men who did not            number of jobs: Unionized                              union members increased                    all workers in terms of pay
belong to unions gained         men lost 37% of their jobs,                            employment by 12%,                         and working conditions,
jobs in manufacturing           and unionized women                                    whereas non-unionized                      it is especially harmful
between 2003 and 2019.          lost 40% of theirs (Table                              women lost 8% of their jobs.               for women, who benefit

                                                                            8   • www.aauw.org
Figure 7. S
            hare of Women’s Employment in Manufacturing by                                                                                          7). The share of women
           Broad Occupation, 2003 to 2019                                                                                                            working in production jobs,
  60%
                                                                                                                                                     however, declined by about
                                                                                                                                                     5 percentage points from
                                                                                                                                                     42.2% in 2003 to 37.6%
  50%
                                                                                                                                                     in 2019. Management
                                                                                                                                                     occupations comprised
  40%                                                                                                                                                an average of 11% of
                                                                                                                                                     women’s employment
                                                                                                                                                     in manufacturing and
  30%
                                                                                                                                                     the importance of this
                                                                                                                                                     occupational category
  20%                                                                                                                                                increased from 9% of
                                                                                                                                                     women’s employment to
  10%                                                                                                                                                13%.19

    0%
                                                                                                                                                     Women’s average hourly
         2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019                                                        wages in manufacturing
                                         n Management n Production n Other Occupations                                                               are consistently less
Source: Author’s calculations from CEPR data. n.d. “CPS Outgoing Rotation Group.” CEPR Data. http://ceprdata.org/cps-uniform-data-extracts/cps-      than men’s, but women’s
outgoing-rotation-group/ (accessed June 4, 2020).                                                                                                    wages grew at a faster
                                                                                                                                                     rate on average than
                                                                                                                                                     men’s since 2003.
The number of union jobs in manufacturing                                                                                                            Between 2003 and 2019,
has shrunk, and women have been especially                                                                                                           women’s hourly wages
                                                                                                                                                     increased faster, on average,
harmed: Wages are higher—and the gender pay                                                                                                          than did men’s (Table

gap is narrower—for unionized workers.                                                                                                               3). Yet a gender wage
                                                                                                                                                     gap persisted across the
                                                                                                                                                     wage distribution over the
the most from union                              pay discrimination is rising.                    relative importance of                             period—but it shrank more
membership. An analysis                          The decline in unionization                      production occupations                             at the higher percentiles of
from the Economic Policy                         and concurrent decline in                        shrunk.                                            the wage distribution than
Institute (EPI) found that                       women’s wages also makes                         Since 2003, more women                             it did at the lower ones. The
in 2016, wages were 23%                          women less likely to tolerate                    have worked in production                          largest closure occurred at
higher for unionized women                       the sexual harassment,                           than any other category                            the 99th percentile, where
workers than those who                           gender discrimination and                        of manufacturing (Figure                           the relative wages of women
are not. Unionization also                       other unfavorable conditions
helps close the wage gap:                        that they may encounter on
                                                                                                   Table 2. Change in Employment by Sex and
Unionized women earn 94%                         the job, as research shows                                  Union Status, 2003 to 2019
of the hourly wage of their                      that workers are only willing                                                                                                  Percentage
male counterparts, but non-                      to work jobs with higher risk                                                                         Job Change                   change
unionized women earn only                        of these if a pay premium is                       Women                   Unionized                       -191,966                      -40%
78% of what non-unionized                        attached to them.18                                                        Not Unionized                   -360,499                        -8%
male workers earn.17 This
                                                                                                                            Not Specified                        9,939                       6%
reveals that unionization also                   The relative importance
decreases the likelihood that                    of management                                      Men                     Unionized                       -697,062                      -37%

women workers experience                         occupations to                                                             Not Unionized                    227,101                       12%
gender pay discrimination on                     women’s employment                                                         Not Specified                   -124,366                      -24%
the job—so with unionization                     in manufacturing grew
                                                                                                  Source: Author’s calculations from CEPR data. n.d. “CPS Outgoing Rotation Group.” CEPR Data.
declining, it is likely that                     since 2003, whereas the                          http://ceprdata.org/cps-uniform-data-extracts/cps-outgoing-rotation-group/ (accessed June 4, 2020).

                                                                                  www.aauw.org           •9
and men went from 72% in         Table 3. A
                                           verage hourly wage for those employed in manufacturing by
2003 to 94% in 2019. At the               income decile and sex, 2003 and 2019 (in 2019 dollars)
90th percentile, the relative
wage improved from 74% to                                                                                                                           Women's wage /
                                                                    Women                                              Men                           Men's wage
83%. This means that, while
                                    Wage                                           %                                                 %
well-off women are closing        Percentile       2003        2019       Change change             2003         2019       Change change             2003         2019
the manufacturing wage
                                      10th       $10.24         $11         0.76         7%        $12.54       $13.50         0.96        8%          82%            81%
gap, women at the lower
end of the income ladder are          20th        12.19       13.00         0.81         7%         15.32        16.00         0.68        4%          80%            81%
being left behind.                    30th        13.93       15.00         1.07         8%         18.08        18.27         0.19        1%          77%            82%

                                      40th        15.63       16.50         0.87         6%         20.89        21.00         0.11        1%          75%            79%
White women in
manufacturing                         50th        17.55       18.80         1.25         7%         23.68        24.15         0.47        2%          74%            78%
consistently earned more              60th        20.06       21.43         1.37         7%         27.86        28.07         0.21        1%          72%            76%
on average than Black
                                      70th        23.41       25.48         2.07         9%         32.14        33.60         1.46        5%          73%            76%
and Hispanic women and
less than Asian women.                80th        27.86       32.82         4.96        18%         38.69        40.85         2.16        6%          72%            80%
Between 2003 and 2019,                90th        36.81       46.15         9.34        25%         49.53        55.56         6.03       12%          74%            83%
Black and Hispanic women’s
                                      99th        69.64       96.90        27.26        39%         96.08       103.25         7.17        7%          72%            94%
wages declined relative to
their white counterparts               All        21.41       24.60         3.19        15%         28.46        30.69         2.23        8%          75%            80%
(Table 4). In 2019, Black
                                Source: Author’s calculations from CEPR data. n.d. “CPS Outgoing Rotation Group.” CEPR Data. http://ceprdata.org/cps-uniform-data-extracts/cps-
women earned 78% of what        outgoing-rotation-group/ (accessed June 4, 2020).
white women workers did—
which is down 5 percentage       Table 4. A
                                           verage hourly wage as a share of white average hourly wage by
points from 2003—and                      sex and race/ethnicity, manufacturing sector, 2003 and 2019
Hispanic women earned
                                                                              Women                                                          Men
66% of what white women
did—a 4 percentage point          Race/Ethnicity            2003               2019           % point change             2003              2019          % point change
decrease. The position                  Black                83%                78%                  -5                  74%               71%                   -3
of Asian women, on the
other hand, improved by               Hispanic               70%                66%                  -4                  65%               72%                    7

15 percentage points, from              Asian               101%               116%                  15                  110%              119%                   9
101% in 2003 to 116% in
                                        Other                89%                95%                   7                  85%               78%                   -8
2019. This increase relative
to white women is also          Source: Author’s calculations from CEPR data. n.d. “CPS Outgoing Rotation Group.” CEPR Data. http://ceprdata.org/cps-uniform-data-extracts/cps-
                                outgoing-rotation-group/ (accessed June 4, 2020).
reflected in Asian women’s
relative wage increase
                                 Table 5. A
                                           verage hourly wage for those employed in manufacturing by
between 2003 and 2019,
                                          sex and race/ethnicity, 2003 and 2019 (in 2019 dollars)
which was the largest of
any racial/ethnic group                                                         Women                                                         Men
(Table 5). This is likely          Race/Ethnicity           2003           2019         change       % change          2003           2019         change       % change
because in 2019, over 50%
                                         White             $22.93         $26.77         $3.84            17%         $30.55          $32.78        $2.23             7%
of Asian women working
in manufacturing had a                   Black              19.06          20.86          1.80            9%          22.74           23.28         0.54              2%
college or advanced degree,            Hispanic             16.15          17.61          1.46            9%          19.75           23.51         3.76           19%
compared to less than 40%
                                         Asian              23.12          31.05          7.93            34%         33.56           38.85         5.29           16%
of white women—indicating
that Asian women are more                Other              20.30          25.51          5.21            26%          26.1           25.42         -0.68             -3%
represented in high-skilled
                                Source: Author’s calculations from CEPR data. n.d. “CPS Outgoing Rotation Group.” CEPR Data. http://ceprdata.org/cps-uniform-data-extracts/cps-
manufacturing jobs.             outgoing-rotation-group/ (accessed June 4, 2020).

                                                                10    • www.aauw.org
ARE WOMEN IN
MANUFACTURING MORE
LIKELY TO LEAVE THEIR JOBS?
Women in manufacturing are more likely to leave               industries and men working in any industry were. This
the industry that employs them.                               finding holds when controlling for age, race, marital
In our analysis, we also looked at the contributions          status, parental status, union membership, region
of two key variables—gender and employment in                 and local economic activity. While it also holds when
manufacturing—to the likelihood that a worker would           controlling for sexual harassment, doing so reduces the
leave a job in any major industry between 2018 and            magnitude of the likelihood. In other words, when women
2019 (Table 2).20 Strikingly, we found that women in          are less likely to experience sexual harassment on the
manufacturing were more likely to leave their jobs for        job, they are less likely to leave manufacturing work
work in other industries than women working in other          altogether than they otherwise would be.

Women are more likely than men to leave the manufacturing
industry, as well as more likely to leave the industry than women in
other fields. A possible explanation: Sexual harassment appears to
be especially widespread in the manufacturing industry.

WHY DO WOMEN LEAVE?
Sexual harassment             earn less in their new jobs     less likely women are to        workplace (see Figure 8).
Women working in              than they did before.23         experience workplace            One woman described the
manufacturing are more          Our research found that       sexual harassment, the          unnerving experience of
likely to experience sexual   women who face sexual           less likely they are to leave   having “a male coworker
harassment than those in      harassment at work are          jobs in manufacturing—a         wrap his hand around
women-dominated or even       more likely to leave their      finding that reveals how        her neck from behind”.
gender-equal sectors.21       job—but the relationship        important eliminating           Others described enduring
Experiences like this could   between sexual harassment       sexual harassment is to         harassment “on a daily
make women feel less safe     and quitting is more            keeping women in the            basis” and “every single
on the job. It could also     complex than one might          manufacturing industry.         day.” Notably, whether
make it harder for them       expect.24                         The survey data we            an employer-mandated
to be promoted, which           In our analysis of industry   collected, however,             sexual harassment training
could lead to lower pay and   transitions, we found           complicate these findings.      had no effect whatsoever
lower rates of overall job    that women who are              Women who responded             on whether harassment
satisfaction among women      less likely to experience       to our survey experienced       ultimately occurred—a
working in the sector.22      sexual harassment at            sexual harassment at            finding that reminds us
Indeed, research shows        work—proxied by a higher        alarming rates: 68.2% of        that harassment results
that women who leave toxic    proportion of women to          women of color and 62.6%        from structural power
work environments, such       men in a workplace—are          of white women reported         imbalances, not the choices
as those caused by sexual     less likely to leave for jobs   experiencing some form          of a few bad actors.
harassment, are likely to     in other industries. The        of harassment at their            Yet, unlike making

                                                   www.aauw.org   • 11
the decision to leave             ceiling—the less likely                             work—perhaps a result of                   men, [whether] it’s doing
the industry in general,          women are to move away                              the high rate of unionization              something wrong or right.”
there was no relationship         from jobs in an industry.                           among women surveyed.)                     Another reported, “They give
between experiencing most         Similar to our analysis of                          When these responses were                  us easier job[s] because they
forms of harassment and           sexual harassment, we                               combined into one variable,                silently believe we aren’t
women’s willingness to            found that controlling for the                      the results were astounding:               capable of doing as much
accept a comparable job at        height of the glass ceiling                         Nearly 30% of the difference               as the men. It’s humiliating.”
a different manufacturer.         reduces the likelihood that                         in whether a woman would                   Others described being
Women who experienced             women in manufacturing                              accept a job at another                    ignored or dismissed by
unwanted verbal and               will leave the industry.                            employer could be attributed               men at work, and multiple
physical advances were              The survey data bear                              to whether she believed men                women reported having to
the only ones who were            these findings out. Of                              received more promotions                   “work twice as hard” to earn
more likely to report higher      women surveyed, 31.5%                               or pay than women.27                       the same recognition that
turnover intentions—yet           reported feeling that men                             Open responses to the                    men get. If manufacturers
even then, the relationship       received more promotions                            survey substantiate these                  want to retain women, they
was quite weak.25 Sadly, it       than women. Since nearly                            findings: Again and again,                 must pay and promote them
seems that women believe          90% of respondents                                  women reported that men                    equally to men.
that harassment is an
industry-wide problem, and            Figure 8. Sexual Harrassment in Manufacturing
have accepted it as the                              100%
price of doing a job they
                                                     90%
otherwise enjoy. According
                                                     80%
to one woman, the industry
“is male-oriented. Basically[,]                      70%
                                  Percent of Women

if you are a woman, expect                           60%
comments. And get over                               50%
it.” Other women wrote off
                                                     40%       50%             61.8%              62.0%            72%              73.8%               82.7%
harassing behavior as “men
being men,” and said it was                          30%

women’s responsibility to                            20%
stick up for each other.                             10%
But sexual harassment                                 0%
stems from a power                                           I have heard      I have seen       I have been   I have received     I have seen        I have been
                                                              people talk     people make         subject to      unwanted        people display       subject to
imbalance in the workplace:                                 about sex or       suggestive         unwanted       propositions        sexually-         unwanted
Individual women cannot                                      make sexist     noises or hand         verbal         for dates       suggestive           touching,
                                                            comments or          gestures         advances           or sex           images           kissing, or
be personally responsible                                        jokes                                                                               other physical
for changing this structural                                                                                                                           advances
problem.                                                                                      REPORTED FORMS OF HARASSMENT
                                                                                                                       Source: AAUW survey of women in manufacturing jobs

The glass maze                    worked in production jobs,                          who are supervisors judged                 Workplaces dominated
Women are far more likely         it appears that women are                           them more harshly than                     by men
to leave their jobs if they       encountering gender-based                           the men on their teams                     Women who feel
perceive that men receive         barriers at every level of                          and overlooked women's                     outnumbered by men at
more promotions or more           employment and promotion,                           contributions. In response to              work are no more likely
pay than women do.                not just at the top—a reality                       a question asking what her                 to take a job at another
  Our analysis of industry        that psychologist Linda                             employer could do to make                  employer than those who
transitions shows that,           Jean Schaumann has                                  her more satisfied at work,                do not feel they are in the
the greater the share of          conceptualized as a “glass                          one woman said, “Treat                     minority.28 This is despite
women managers in a               maze.”26 (Only 15.6% said                           me as an equal. Forget my                  the fact that roughly a third
sub-industry—or more              they felt that men received                         gender.” A second asked                    of women feel outnumbered
permeable the glass               more pay for the same                               “to be treated equally to the              either at their current

                                                                        12   • www.aauw.org
employer in general (36.7%)
or in their department in
                                  Woman of color in manufacturing                                    Altogether, 69.2% of women
                                                                                                     were not satisfied with the
particular (33.7%).               are outnumbered on the basis                                       amount of paid family leave.
   These results could                                                                               Women’s dissatisfaction
mean one of two things.           of both gender and race, making                                    came through in their written
On the one hand, women            them feel especially isolated                                      comments on our survey.
may have accepted that                                                                               “Offer maternity leave with
manufacturing is a field          and unwelcome.                                                     full pay rather than just
dominated by men, and                                                                                short-term disability pay,”
therefore do not anticipate                                                                          one woman suggested.
that moving from one              out as respectful, helpful      job at a different employer        Others requested “more
manufacturer to another           and interested in their         than those who do not have         paid time off for pregnancy,
would change the gender           development.                    caregiving responsibilities—       taking care of a child, and
dynamics. Some of the               An interesting note:          perhaps because merely             other related care” and
open-response comments            Women of color were             switching employers carries        “increas[ing] the number of
support this hypothesis. One      far more likely to report       less risk than leaving the         weeks of maternity leave.”
woman wrote, “As a woman          feeling outnumbered at          industry as a whole.               But family leave is not just
in manufacturing, it slowly       their employer than white         More definitive, however,        about caring for children.
becomes clear that there are      women were.29 This is           are the effects of paid            One woman recounted how
still remnants of a ‘good old     despite the fact that the       family leave. Research             her husband, who works in
boys[’] club.”                    survey item asked solely        by EPI shows that, for all         the same company, gets a
   On the other hand,             about gender, not race.         workers aged 18 to 64,             “huge amount for sick pay”
working in an environment         This finding indicates that     the total compensation             and was using that benefit
dominated by men may not          being a woman of color in       premium—calculated as              to take care of a relative.
be inherently bad or difficult.   manufacturing is doubly         the sum of wages and               If manufacturers want to
Perhaps what matters is           isolating: Women of color       benefits, like paid leave—         retain women workers,
not how many men there            feel outnumbered on the         for manufacturing relative         they will need to improve
are, but whether they treat       basis of gender and race.       to other private sectors           family leave policies to allow
their women colleagues                                            was 15%, as opposed to             women more paid time to
fairly and respectfully. One      Parental status and paid        the 10.4% premium for              take care of their children
woman recalled how at her         family leave                    wages alone.30 Although            and their families.
previous employer—a steel         Women who are parents           the data to disaggregate
manufacturer—she “didn’t          are less likely to leave the    this calculation by gender is      What other
realize [she] was the only        manufacturing industry          not available, it is likely that   characteristics explain
woman in the department           altogether than those who       the additional premium on          women’s departure from
for a really long time…           are not. Yet while being a      total compensation matters         manufacturing?
because…[she] had a great         parent reduced the likelihood   profoundly for women               In our econometric
support team. They were           that a woman would leave        workers, especially those          analysis, several other key
all men. They never treated       a manufacturing job, it         of child-bearing age. More         independent variables had
[her] differently and were        increased the likelihood that   generous benefits and paid         a significant impact on
genuinely interested in           a man would. These findings     leave time could make jobs         women’s job transitions
[her] growth and success.”        suggest that childcare          in manufacturing more              away from manufacturing:
When the team changed,            responsibilities constrain      attractive to women.               age, parental status, rural
however, the situation            mothers’ decisions to             Our survey substantiates         area, union membership
deteriorated: The men             change jobs—but did             this hypothesis.                   and state-level economic
asked her to “do mundane          not do so for fathers. By       Dissatisfaction with the           activity. Most of these
things” and “treated [her]        contrast, women who are         amount of paid family              factors reduced women’s
like an assistant.” Less          parents or who care for an      leave is a key reason that         industry mobility. The
ambiguous were women’s            aging relative are no more      all women—even women               exception to this is state-
feelings on women bosses,         or less likely to accept a      who are not mothers—leave          level per capita GDP, which
whom they universally called      comparable manufacturing        their manufacturing jobs.31        made women more likely

                                                       www.aauw.org   • 13
to leave manufacturing;          increased the likelihood that   likelihood that a person        This could be a reflection
this makes sense, since          a man would. Being Black or     would leave a job in            that better-educated men
greater economic activity        Asian reduced the likelihood    manufacturing in the full       may have relatively more job
increases job alternatives.      that a woman would leave a      sample and in the sample        market opportunities and
Regarding parental status: It    manufacturing job relative to   of men. In contrast, having     may be more likely to seek
is notable, that while being a   white women working in the      a college degree did not        them out, particularly when
parent reduced the likelihood    industry.                       have a significant impact on    confronted with the overall
that a woman would leave           Having a four-year college    women’s transitions away        decline in U.S. manufacturing
a manufacturing job, it          diploma increased the           from jobs in manufacturing.     over the last decades.32

HOW CAN WE KEEP WOMEN
IN MANUFACTURING?
Our findings above demonstrate that eliminating sexual harassment, ensuring equality in pay
and promotions, and providing adequate paid family leave can all encourage women to stay in
manufacturing jobs and in the manufacturing industry. Here is how employers and policymakers can
take action on those and other measures:
Sexual Harassment                                                   Though bystanders are unlikely to be nearby when the
Changing workplace culture is a key component of stopping           most egregious harassment occurs, their intervention in
sexual harassment, but our research found that sexual               the early stages of harassment can prevent perpetrators
harassment training is not working. To urge system change           from escalating their behaviors.36
and make harassment training more effective, employers can:         Conduct climate surveys: Regular, anonymous climate
                                                                   —
  — Create a well-defined sexual harassment policy: The            surveys will help ascertain existing workplace culture,
     policy must include examples of prohibited behavior and        identify potential areas for growth for the employer and
     be based on a commitment to diversity and inclusion,           guide the revision of training and other procedures.
     rather than compliance. Anti-harassment policies should
     be comprehensive and prohibit harassment based on any       Legislation is another important way to tackle workplace
     protected characteristic.                                   sexual harassment. Solutions must be comprehensive,
  — Institute a complaint process procedure: There should       including a number of provisions to protect workers and fix
     be a complaint procedure that identifies HR professionals   overly narrow standards created through problematic case
     designated to document and investigate complaints,          law. Policymakers can:
     and explain this process to employees. According to the       — Codify strong protections: This includes enacting anti-
     EEOC, this process should be “multi-faceted, offering            retaliation provisions, prohibiting non-disparagement
     a range of methods, multiple points-of-contact, and              and non-disclosure agreements unless requested by the
     geographic and organizational diversity where possible,          employee, banning pre-dispute mandatory arbitration,
     for an employee to report harassment.”33                         expanding protections to cover all employees,
  — Take training seriously: Merely attending a mandatory            instituting strong penalties and eliminating caps on
     seminar won’t stop harassment. Instead, employers need           damages awarded to workers who have experienced
     to conduct in-person, interactive trainings that last at         discrimination.
     least four hours.34                                           — Specifically, enact strong federal legislation and state
  — Involve white men in the training: Research suggests that        equivalents:
     there is a backlash against training when it is conducted           ¡The Bringing an End to Harassment by Enhancing
     by a woman, but not when it is conducted by a man.35                Accountability and Rejecting Discrimination (BE
  — Conduct bystander awareness training: Beyond                        HEARD) Act would ensure all workers can do their
     standard sexual harassment training, bystander training             jobs without fear of harassment by building on
     empowers people to stop harassment in its tracks.                   existing civil rights laws to provide new protections

                                                      14   • www.aauw.org
for workers, while also safeguarding existing                 gender pay gap because it assumes that prior salaries
       discrimination laws.                                          were fairly established by previous employers. Relying
       ¡The Ending the Monopoly of Power Over Workplace              on salary history allows a new employer to continue
       harassment through Education and Reporting                    underpaying an employee who faced a pay gap and
       (EMPOWER) Act would increase transparency and                 lost wages due to bias or discrimination at a previous
       training in the workplace, making it less difficult for       job. Salary history questions can also introduce bias
       employees to come forward and report inappropriate            and discrimination into the recruitment process of a
       behavior.                                                     company that may be attempting to avoid it. Employers
       ¡The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act would end                  should prohibit the use of salary history and instead use
       another form of sex discrimination and promote                market research to determine what the position is worth
       women’s health and economic security by ensuring              to the organization.
       reasonable workplace accommodations for workers             — Publicize wage ranges for all job postings: Increased
       whose ability to perform the functions of a job are            transparency levels the playing field when job applicants
       limited by pregnancy, childbirth or a related medical          are negotiating their salaries. Publishing salary ranges
       condition.                                                     also provides employers with the opportunity to
                                                                      proactively ensure they are in line with the market and
Ensuring equality in pay and promotions                               correct any disparities that may have arisen over time.
The gender and racial pay gaps are persistent. Over the
last several decades, these gaps have started to close. But      Policymakers have the opportunity to support workers by
progress is slow and both employers and alike must take          providing needed protections and encouraging employers to
action to speed the pace of change.                              be good actors. They should:
  In addition to being ethical and good for employees, pay         —Make existing law stronger: Over the years we have
equity is beneficial to employers because it drives higher           learned a lot about the ways pay discrimination works,
retention and morale, according to our research. Employers           so we must enact laws to close existing loopholes.
should:                                                              Additionally, policymakers should strengthen penalties
   —Conduct pay audits: Pay audits can be used to                   for equal pay violations, prohibit the use of salary history
     understand, monitor and address gender pay                      in employment decisions, prohibit retaliation against
     differences. Regularly analyzing pay decisions—when             workers who voluntarily discuss or disclose their wages,
     salaries are set, when job functions change, when               and support data collection and research. At the federal
     bonuses are awarded or raises given—ensures that                level, enacting the Paycheck Fairness Act, as well as the
     salaries remain equitable and employers comply with             Pay Equity for All Act and the Fair Pay Act, would codify
     the law.                                                        these recommendations.
   —Prohibit retaliation for wage disclosure: Pay disparities     —Build off of state successes: Over the past decade,
     are notoriously difficult to detect and many employers          states have enacted a bevy of laws designed to close
     punish employees for asking about or sharing that               the gender and racial pay gaps. Implementing pieces of
     information. Such punitive pay-secrecy policies make            federal bills and enacting new, progressive provisions at
     it difficult for workers to remedy wage disparities             the state level enables timely discoveries about which
     because they cannot find out if they’re being paid less.        policies work.
     Employers should not impose such policies and should          —Enact the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act:
     proactively ban retaliation against employees seeking           Union membership plays a critical role in ensuring
     this information.                                               pay equality. Unionized women earn 94% of the hourly
   —Ban the use of prior salary history: The practice of            wage of unionized men, whereas non-unionized women
     using past salaries to set current wages perpetuates the        earn only 78% of what non-unionized men earn.37

Current efforts to curb sexual harassment do not appear to be
effective. Employers should be more proactive in offering training
programs and establishing reporting procedures, and we need
stronger state and federal laws to help tackle the persistent problems.

                                                      www.aauw.org   • 15
Thus, though the decline in union membership in                 Offer a variety of flexible work measures—including
                                                                   —
    manufacturing jobs hurts all workers, it especially hurts        flextime, a compressed work week, shift swapping,
    women, who rely on unions to guarantee a fair wage.38            shift splitting and the ability to work part time. These
    The PRO Act would expand various labor protections               measures give manufacturers the certainty that they will
    related to employees’ rights to organize and collectively        have workers on the line when they need them—while
    bargain in the workplace.                                        affording workers the flexibility to take care of their
                                                                     families.
Improve Paid Family Leave
Despite many cultural and legal advances in American             Support Higher Education Access
society, women are generally expected to be the primary          As new jobs in manufacturing demand greater skills and
caretaker in their families—both of children as well as other    education, opening doors to more women to acquire
family members who need assistance. Coupled with a lack          associate, bachelor and advanced degrees is an essential
of systematic supports for new parents, this has profound        component of recruiting and retaining women in the
consequences on women’s careers and paychecks.                   industry. Policymakers should enact legislation that:
                                                                   —Protects Pell Grants and ensures that they work for
Employers can address this by:                                       all students: Need-based grant aid helps alleviate
 —Offering paid family and medical leave to all                     the amount of debt students must assume to attend
   employees: To support all workers and address                     college. The federal Pell Grant Program is critical to
   yawning pay and promotion gaps, employer-sponsored                many students’ success in higher education. Congress
   leave must be fully paid, cover time away for both                should double the maximum Pell Grant and restore its
   caretaking and personal medical reasons and be equally            purchasing power to cover the increased costs of college
   available to men and women.                                       attendance.
 —Encouraging all employees to utilize their leave: Even if       —Addresses additional costs students face beyond tuition:
   employers offer generous leave, if the workplace culture          Often lost in the conversation about affordable higher
   discourages it or penalizes those who use it, employees           education are the other costs incurred by students during
   will not utilize it. This will penalize those workers who         their time in school. For example, many students are
   have no alternative but to use it.                                also parenting while enrolled in college and may take on
                                                                     additional loans that students without dependent children
To support employers who may not be able to afford to offer          do not need. The costs of child care put it out of reach
comprehensive paid leave, policymakers should enact a                for many student parents, making affordable on-campus
national paid leave system.                                          child care a necessary and effective resource. The federal
  — Pass the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY)            program to support this type of affordability, Child Care
     Act: This bill would establish paid medical and parental        Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS), should be
     leave for all workers.                                          fully funded to continue to support parenting students as
  — Pass the Healthy Families Act: This bill would allow            they pursue higher education.
     workers to earn paid sick days to cover temporary and         —Offers broad-based student loan debt cancellation and
     minor illnesses and caregiving.                                 supports repayment and assistance approaches that
  — Enact state level responses: In the absence of a                reflect borrowers’ realities: The global pandemic and
     comprehensive federal paid leave policies, many states          resulting economic crisis have laid bare the struggles of
     have enacted their own reforms. State should continue           many borrowers, particularly women, people of color and
     this practice, both to support their residents and to try       low-income individuals. Offering a range of approaches—
     out new approaches that may one day be implemented              including student debt cancellation, streamlined income-
     at the federal level.                                           driven repayment options, refinancing and private student
                                                                     loan discharge in bankruptcy—will support individuals and
Institute Flexible Work Measures                                     their families, while enabling them progress confidently in
The availability of flexible work measures can help retain           their careers.
women in manufacturing jobs. Our research found that
women whose employers offer flextime—that is, flexibility in     Employers can also support their workforce by:
when workers start or end their workdays—are moderately           —Providing tuition reimbursement: Education assistance—
less likely to accept a position at another employer.39             whether through tuition payments, loan repayment or
Employers should:                                                   grants—is a great way to support current employees,

                                                      16   • www.aauw.org
help retain exceptional workers and recruit high-quality        the same sense of support from women’s resource groups
   candidates.                                                     that white women do—likely because the groups, like the
   Creating apprenticeship programs: Apprenticeships
  —                                                               industry itself, are heavily white, and therefore do not
   are a great way to learn on the job. They provide direct        attend to women of color’s intersectional identities. One
   access to jobs and offer debt-free career training.             white woman’s comment can help us understand why
   Employers can ensure they have a pipeline of women              women of color may not feel helped by general resource
   entering their workplace by creating and promoting              groups. “I’m offended that ANY of this has to be questioned
   these types of opportunities.                                   as a ‘woman’ race or religion,” she wrote, “I do not think my
                                                                   color, race and/or gender should matter.” A white woman’s
Diversify Employee Resource Groups                                 race may not matter at work, but a woman of color’s
Employers often point to employee resource groups as               probably does—and women of color need to have spaces
evidence of an inclusive work environment. Yet there is            to find support.
little research on whether the groups do, in fact, increase
job satisfaction or decrease turnover.40                           Employers should:
   Our research found that, for white women, the availability       —Organize more diverse employee resource groups:
of employee resource groups helped reduce turnover. For               These could include groups for women of color and for
women of color, however, this was not the case.41                     mothers. These groups can make more women feel
These findings indicate that women of color do not gain               welcome on the factory floor.

 Checklist for Retaining Women in Manufacturing Jobs

                   Employers                                                      Policymakers
 Stop sexual        Create a well-defined sexual harassment policy
                   q                                                              Codify strong anti-harassment protections
                                                                                  q
 harassment         Institute a complaint process procedure
                   q                                                              Enact the Bringing an End to Harassment
                                                                                  q
                    Make sexual harassment training in-person and interactive
                   q                                                              by Enhancing Accountability and Rejecting
                    Have white men conduct sexual harassment training sessions
                   q                                                              Discrimination (BE HEARD) Act
                    Conduct bystander awareness training
                   q                                                              Enact the Ending the Monopoly of Power
                                                                                  q
                    Employers should have and encourage the use of an
                   q                                                              Over Workplace harassment through
                     anonymous tip line for those who experience or witness        Education and Reporting (EMPOWER) Act
                     harassing behavior.                                           Enact the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
                                                                                  q

 Ensure equality    Conduct pay audits
                   q                                                              Enact the Paycheck Fairness Act
                                                                                  q
 in pay and         Prohibit retaliation for wage disclosure
                   q                                                              Enact the Pay Equity for All Act
                                                                                  q
 promotions         Ban the use of prior salary history
                   q                                                              Enact the Fair Pay Act
                                                                                  q
                    Publicize wage ranges for all job postings
                   q                                                              Enact the Protecting the Right to Organize
                                                                                  q
                                                                                     (PRO) Act

 Improve paid       Offer paid family and medical leave to all employees
                   q                                                              Pass the Family and Medical Insurance
                                                                                  q
 family leave       Encourage all employees to use their leave
                   q                                                                Leave (FAMILY) Act
                                                                                   Pass the Healthy Families Act
                                                                                  q
 Offer flexible     Offer flextime
                   q
 work measures      Offer compressed work weeks
                   q
                    Offer shift swapping
                   q
                    Offer shift splitting
                   q
                    Offer the ability to work part time
                   q
  Support higher    Provide tuition reimbursement
                   q                                                              Protect Pell Grants
                                                                                  q
  education         Create apprenticeship programs
                   q                                                              Address costs beyond tuition, including
                                                                                  q
  access                                                                           by fully funding Child Care Access Means
                                                                                   Parents in School (CCAMPIS)
                                                                                   Offer broad-based student loan debt
                                                                                  q
                                                                                   cancellation and support realistic
                                                                                   repayment and assistance approaches

 Diversify          Include groups specifically for women of color
                   q
 employee           ERG leaders should be welcomed to bring concerns and ideas
                   q
 resource            for workplace culture improvements to HR. HR should create
 groups              avenues for anonymous or confidential feedback.

                                                          www.aauw.org   • 17
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