LR panel tackles gender wage gap

Speaker: Earnings ratio slipped in ’12

Thirty-three states in the nation have smaller wage gaps than Arkansas.

In 2012, Arkansas women made fewer than 78 cents to a man's dollar, and the gap has grown wider in recent years. In 2011, Arkansas women made 82 percent of what men made, the 10th-smallest gap in the nation.

Politicians and economic experts discussed the wage gap and other issues working women face during Arkansas Money and Politics' first Women and Politics power luncheon, Thursday at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock. The sold-out event also included panels on health care and education.

"As long as women -- in a very socially promoted and accepted way -- carry the burden of raising children, we are going to have this problem," Grant Tennille, executive director of the Arkansas Department of Economic Development, who provided the wage-gap statistics above.

In looking for employees who provide what Tennille called "bang for the buck," corporations often choose men who won't be their children's primary caregiver.

State Sen. Joyce Elliott, said neither political policy nor business practices have supported women who enter and exit the workforce to have children.

"When you choose motherhood, there is a compromise in what you get to do and how you get to elevate in the work world," Elliott, D-Little Rock, said.

Randy Zook, president and CEO of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce, discussed growth in the state's high-tech manufacturing industry. It's a male-dominated field now, but Zook said that could change.

"These are highly sophisticated, highly capital-intensive fields that offer a lot of opportunities," Zook said. "I think it's one of those industries where women have a lot of room to grow."

Little Rock City Director Stacy Hurst said she thought the state's manufacturing growth could provide opportunities for women as well as men. She pointed to a recent meeting she had with a Lexicon Inc. executive who was looking to hire 40 welders.

"I don't see any reason why a woman can't do that skilled trade just like a man can," Hurst said.

Zook said one of the most pervasive problems facing Arkansas industry today is the few women who serve on corporate boards.

"It's ridiculous how few women sit on corporate boards," Zook said. "It's sort of acute in Arkansas."

Data show there's a compelling reason for women to be involved in high levels of business.

"Businesses with a more balanced executive suite do better and make more money than businesses that don't," Tennille said.

Although they're underrepresented on corporate boards, women business leaders have seen success in the nonprofit sector.

"We've had explosive growth in the number of nonprofits in central Arkansas," Zook said. "By and large, those organizations are founded and run by women."

Business on 05/30/2014

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