How Women Can Overcome Barriers to the Middle Class

When women hold equal and active roles in society, societies thrive.  But regardless of their vital influence, outdated gender norms continue to hold women back.

And bias starts early. By age six,  girls already consider boys to be more capable than their own gender. Compound these perceptions with decades of subordination and misogyny, and the correlation is difficult to overlook.

According to the latest U.S. Census data, full-time, year-round working women still earn just 80 cents per dollar compared to their male counterparts. And a 2017 Pew analysis reveals four in 10 women report experiencing gender discrimination in their jobs. In tandem, whether at home or in the workplace,   studies show women also harbor an unequal burden of “invisible work” on top of the responsibilities of their personal and professional roles. 

Regardless of the sector, it’s difficult to move forward amid a minefield of unwarranted barriers. In seeking a more prosperous future, we must all fully commit to uprooting and eliminating the archaic discrimination levied on women and girls.

The envelope arrived bearing the answer that could set the course of the rest of my life. With nervous hands, I unfolded the single page. “Yes!” I had been accepted to my dream school: Princeton. The elated jumping commenced.

What came next was the earthbound family effort to pay for that educational lottery ticket: a crushing $25,000 per year. (Try to be sympathetic. This was 1990.)

At over half of my father’s salary, we needed a miracle. That miracle was my mom. We sat at the kitchen table with want ads and circled every job that offered at least $10,000 per year after taxes. Cleaning dishes and mopping floors at a grocery store was the job she took. By my graduation, my mom, a college drop-out, had become manager of one of the most profitable departments at the most profitable store in the whole chain. The higher-ups even offered to send her to Yale’s business school.

I point this out because being middle class is being in the middle of enormous expenses. Getting there is easier than staying. Being married in a double- income family makes it easier. Having a college degree is almost always a professional requisite.

My advice to women, especially women of color: Grab opportunities to move forward in your work and life and seek out mentors no matter how improbable or remote they may seem.

Also, in the words of President George W. Bush, defy the bigotry of low expectations. And as his father, President George H. W. Bush, wrote to President William J. Clinton: “Don’t let the critics discourage you or push you off course.”

And marry a nice person.  Life is easier with a life partner.  That’s what I hear.

We are in the middle of a cultural transition. In the majority of households with young children, all parents are working – which was not the case a generation ago. Our federal labor laws and many company polices have not evolved accordingly.

And the people who’ve paid the price are working mothers. Motherhood is the single biggest factor holding back women’s work and wages. Having a child is the main driver of the gender pay gap; and relative to other countries across the developed world, women’s labor force participation in the U.S. has fallen behind our peers in part because of the lack of family-friendly policies.  

As a country, we need to do a better job supporting women. This includes a federal paid leave policy for new parents and boosting wages for working-class Americans to help overcome work-related expenses, such as child care. But it also requires a cultural shift of employers investing in their employees holistically and over the long term.  We are all better off when families and work can flourish, simultaneously. 

The number one challenge facing women in the workplace is combining job and children. Because children are needy and mothers are by nature so tied to them, it’s a dilemma for the luckiest of women, those with a flush bank account, understanding bosses, supportive family, and committed, well-employed husbands. For less fortunate women, especially single mothers, paying off burdensome mortgages, school loans, and medical bills, it’s a struggle just making enough money for the kids’ shoes.

Many imagine that paid maternity leave and government-subsidized child care could solve the dilemma especially for less affluent women. They can certainly ease it, but nothing is more crucial for women trying to succeed in the workplace than a competent, caring, committed partner, preferably their children’s father. No one else is as likely to share the decades of costs, worries, and interruptions that hold so many women back.

Advancing in the labor market requires both skills and work. But education and training options are not always flexible enough for today’s economy and families. In particular, many women face challenges in obtaining skills and training with child care responsibilities at the same time. Businesses and society have the opportunity and need to engage them.  

For public policy, stronger support for community colleges, which offer flexible pathways to skills and new occupations, is important, especially to help students complete their degree. Imagine a successor to the 19^th Century Morrill Acts that established land grant colleges. A federal block grant program could provide new funding to community colleges, contingent on degree completion rates and labor market outcomes. 

The private sector needs to step up as well: Community college support can also be linked to partnerships for training with companies. And lifelong learning accounts could support training options for more experienced women (and men) in transition.  

These approaches can solidify opportunities to be in the middle class for all Americans. With that more solid foundation, more women who start out with skill challenges have the opportunity to obtain more responsibility and earned success.

As a chica growing up in one of San Antonio’s poorest areas, I was not expected to finish high school or even attend a university. But I did. I was not the smartest in school but I worked hard, asked questions, did research and whatever I had to do to receive my accounting degree. I did not know what I wanted to be, I just knew that I was good with numbers.

I got a job in a construction company as the controller and loved the industry. Eventually, I started my own construction company. I took $75,000 out of my 401(K) and started working on small projects and saved every dollar to keep growing my company. Now we are one of the largest construction companies in Texas owned by a Hispanic woman.

I am not sure that I ever thought I was middle class because I was always working. I did not concentrate on when the money was coming in. I only knew that I was doing what I loved and it did not seem like hard work. I had lots of trial and error but that did not keep me from moving forward. 

Could I have done this without my college education? I really don’t know. I did use it to create a place for me. I would say it was all about finding my passion and having faith in God to lead me.

Being involved in my community and having a voice has provided me with leadership skills, but learning to serve your community is what really makes life worthwhile. Getting involved and demanding a better city takes learning the public policies and requesting very specific changes.  

One policy I would like to see is more inclusive growth that ensures every public agency has purchasing policies that include 50 percent use of local small-, minority-, and woman-owned companies in every transaction. By being purposely inclusive, our local communities will improve. Small businesses fuel the economy. Let’s make sure they are included.

Women are powerful social and economic contributors and their full inclusion within professional workplaces requires recognition of the value and diversity they bring. Along with traditional barriers around gender equity, discrimination, and harassment, what makes access to the middle class a unique struggle for women is the lack of prior access to established systems and networks. They also lack the knowledge to navigate those networks and systems.

Companies and institutions need a greater commitment to fully including women as the standard, not the exception. Women must be seen and heard and have their contributions valued in the same manner as their male colleagues. And they deserve to do this free from abuse and harassment.

This starts by recognizing the demands many women face due to their multiple roles within the workplace and home. Workplaces benefit by supporting women while providing accountability for performance and opportunities for growth and leadership. Flexible leave and work- schedule policies support them when they need it and result in happier, more productive employees and reduced turnover.

Workplaces can support women’s pursuit of higher education as they work toward greater opportunity and advancement. They can also share knowledge of how to advance within their organizations. Finally, workplace and political leaders must fully own gender equality and address discrimination issues such as sexual harassment and the gender gap in pay, hiring, and retention.

Our social and economic advancement as a nation depends on full inclusion of women and the commitment of our workplaces in meeting this charge.

Numbers tell the story. First, education matters: In September, the unemployment rate for those without a high school education (5.5 percent) was more than twice as high as for those with a college education (2.0 percent).

Similarly, family structure matters: The unemployment rate for women raising children on their own (5.4 percent) is more than double that of those who have both children and a spouse (2.5 percent). The path to success requires a clear order for major life events: (1) finish school; (2) get a job; (3) get married; and (4) have children. Following any other order makes it statistically much more difficult to reach the middle class.

The most important public policy focus should be on the education system. For today, we should strengthen the job-training and technical programs that lead to in-demand jobs. Looking ahead, we need a renewed national commitment to a successful K-12 education system.

The most recent data indicate that the system is failing, with one-quarter to one-third of fourth and fifth graders unable to read and do arithmetic appropriate for their grade. This poor education bleeds over into the rest of life, setting up myriad headwinds to a middle-class existence.