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Today in Labor History March 22, 1972: U.S. Congress sent the Equal Rights Amendment to the states for ratification. It failed. And to this day, women earn 84% of what men do. One of the exceptions is public education, where teachers’ unions have fought and won the right to collectively bargain salaries based on years of experience, not gender. The first ERA was introduced to Congress in 1923. The 1972 had wide bipartisan support, including by presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter, and seemed destined to pass. However, Phyllis Schlafly mobilized conservative women against the amendment, arguing that it would disadvantage housewives, make them eligible for the draft and cause divorcees to lose custody of their children. This killed the ERA in the 1970s. From 2017-2020, several states have ratified the ERA. However, it is uncertain whether these ratifications are legal, since they occurred after the deadlines. Schlafly went on to become a major player in the anti-abortion and anti-feminist and anti-LGBTQ rights movements.
Teachers are underpaid. This frequently happens in jobs that are considered "women's work".
It's not an easy job. Teachers are expected to take a bullet if a school shooter shows up. Also, cops don't go out of pocket for their bullets. While teachers are expected to pay out-of-pocket for school supplies.
A friend who was head of the chemistry and physics department for high school in San Francisco now gets by on a $40,000 a year pension. Her rent is $1600.
Absolutely. I am a public school teacher and did teach in SFUSD. The workload keeps getting heavier and heavier each year. When we get raises at all, at least lately, they've been well below the rate of inflation, making them de facto pay cuts. Tons of out of pocket expenses. The expectation that we will donate hours of unpaid labor each day coaching, running clubs, doing security at football games. And the kids each year, on average, are coming to school with more and more anxiety, depression, trauma, and pessimism about their futures.
But at least we have equal pay across gender and, at least in the Bay Area, we have trans and nonbinary faculty and staff.