It's time for OFCCP to modernize to reflect female breadwinners

It’s time for OFCCP to reflect the 21st century (Rep. Rosa DeLauro)
By Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) - 09/24/09 12:00 PM ET

Earlier this week, I, Congressman Pete Stark, and 24 of our colleagues signed a letter urging Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis to modernize the affirmative action goals set by the Office of Federal Contracts and Compliance Programs (OFCCP) in 1980 to reflect the current realities of female participation in the construction industry.


This issue is a no-brainer – OFCCP standards, which were designed to end the long-standing exclusion of women in construction, should reflect the world as it is today, not as it was decades ago.


For example, the OFCCP minimum standard for total number of work hours performed by women on a given federal contract progressed from 3.1% to 5% to 6.9% over a period of three years when the program was first established. But after this very positive start, this 6.9% participation rate – based on data from the 1970 census – has not been further expanded in over 30 years.


This is 30 years too late, and the time to act is now. As From the Ground Up: Building Opportunities for Women in Construction, a July 2008 report by Legal Momentum, concluded, the “convergence of economic and demographic trends” in the construction industry – many new projects, a retiring male workforce, growing numbers of women in the field – “means that conditions are optimal for increasing women’s participation in the construction workforce.”


Moreover, as Wider Opportunities for Women has pointed out, higher workforce goals usually results in higher participation for women. When the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. established a goal of 15 percent women for the deconstruction of the Deutsche Bank building, the result was 20 percent women on site, including one superintendent.


In short, these OFCCP standards are based on forty-year-old data that in no way reflect the considerable progress we have seen in the construction industry over the past four decades. A more appropriate participation goal, based on current workforce and demographic data, is both legally defensible and critical to assist women in making more gains in non-traditional fields.


In these hard economic times, women are carrying a huge burden in supporting their families and acting as primary breadwinners, particularly given that they make 78 cents on the dollar as compared to men. Yet, women with less than a college degree can earn 20 to 30 percent more in construction jobs than those in occupations normally open to them. It is past time we helped women establish a firmer foothold in the construction industry, one that reflects their numbers in the labor force.


We should not live in the past. These OFCCP standards should reflect the America of 2010, not the America of 1970.


http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/civil-rights/60143-its-time-for-ofccp-to-reflect-the-21st-century-rep-rosa-delauro

Action Alert: Working Women and Families Deserve More!

http://www.legalmomentum.org/

Working Women and Families Deserve More!
Call your elected officials today and ask them to stand-up for
struggling women and their families!


January 27: Today the House Democrats unveiled the near-final version of the economic stimulus package known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, with a vote expected as early as tomorrow. While it contains some powerful measures that will support women and families in these trying economic times, it came up short on two fronts.

First, the bill fails to ensure that women will benefit from the investment in infrastructure and the green economy, in that it avoids setting any types of targets for women’s participation in these heavily male-dominated fields.


Second, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was stripped this afternoon of provisions that would make contraceptives more affordable to working women and families. The move was a concession to House Republicans who had been complaining about the small $200 million subsidy, and it means that many low-income women and couples will struggle to afford the means to act responsibly with regard to their families and health. Playing politics with contraception only serves to hurt those who can least afford it.


Please contact your United States Representative and Senators today and:

Ask that the stimulus package include a concrete goal of 25 percent participation by women in infrastructure, green economy, and other non-traditional jobs.

Demand that the stimulus package recognize that access to affordable contraception is key to women’s health and economic security, and ask them to reinstate funding for family planning for poor women.

Working women's issues are no different than those of all working people: getting paid a living wage, finding affordable child care and health care, sending their children to college--in short, having a chance at the American Dream.

Quick action on the economic stimulus package is critical for working families. Women deserve more, however, than we saw today. In order to achieve a truly sustainable economic recovery, we must make a commitment to the entire workforce, and working families most of all.

Please call the U.S.Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Ask the operator to connect you to your Senators and Representative.

Thank you for supporting working women and families.

Sincerely,
Irasema Garza
President, Legal Momentum

About Legal Momentum
Founded in 1970 as the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, Legal Momentum is the nation's oldest legal advocacy organization dedicated to advancing the rights of women and girls.

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