Professor May
English 1302-21008
30 October, 2016
Is Texas a Good Place for Women?
When evaluating a state, many people consider the property taxes, education, job availability, and even the climate. A person who hates snow and cold weather would never look to live in Minnesota and someone pursuing farming wouldn't want to live in New York City. On the other hand, many people don't consider the standard of equality in a state. Is the political culture blatantly racist? Is there a diverse and inclusive population? These questions have become incredibly valuable when evaluating states because of the constant change and growth in the United States. One of the most important things to evaluate a state on is how women-friendly it is. Is the state a good place for women to live? Texas seems to have become a place that many families have moved to in the past decade, but they clearly aren't considering that it ranks as one of the worst places for women. Based on criteria regarding health care access, equal pay, and the business climate, Texas is truly subpar. Texas is a state that forces women to get strong in the face of adversity since they are always fighting against the grain. Women's equality is not a Republican or Democratic issue; it is an issue based on gender that is blinding the women of Texas.
Access to health care for all women is one of the biggest differences across the United States. The greatest toll this take on women includes the ability to get abortions and access to affordable health care. Although these issues have become partisan political stances in the past decade, women have a legal right from the Supreme Court decision of Roe V. Wade granting them access to safe abortions. Affordable health care improves the lives of mothers, single women, and especially single mothers. Texas is known to be a state with the strictest regulations on abortions; regulations so strict that they were deemed unconstitutional in Whole Woman's Health V. Hellerstedt in June 2016. The infamous Texas House Bill 2 (HB2) of 2013 banned abortions after 20 weeks, and created geographical restrictions on women’s access to an abortion by cutting the amount of clinics available from 42 to 19. HB2 did not pass at first because of the nationally recognized 11-hour filibuster held by State Senator Wendy Davis that was able to block a vote on the bill in the final days of the legislative session. It was eventually passed in a special session called by Governor Rick Perry. Following Whole Woman's Health V. Hellerstedt, Texas politicians took to cutting funding from Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health services. Planned Parenthood offers free breast cancer screenings that help with early detection, provides free STI testing, and helps women that cannot afford any other way to care for themselves. Women in Texas do not have many options for affordable health care, considering that the budget for healthcare is already drastically unfit to accommodate the needs of all Texans. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, Texas women lost access to health care services after lawmakers kicked Planned Parenthood out of a family planning program. Texas politicians decided to cut the funding because offering safe, legal abortions was another service they had available (Stevenson et al. 854). This put the lives of women at risk, making Texas an unsafe and unfriendly place for women when it comes to healthcare access.
The gender pay gap is an issue that haunts women in all states. Women in Texas, however, are paid 79 cents for every dollar paid to men, amounting to a yearly wage gap of $9,349 between men and women who work full time in the state. To make the gap simpler to visualize, consider this: according to the National Partnership for Women and Families, if the wage gap were eliminated, on average, a working woman in Texas would have enough money for approximately 79 more weeks of food for her family, nearly seven more months of mortgage and utilities payments, more than 11 more months of rent, or 2,894 additional gallons of gas (“Texas Women”). So why has Texas not taken steps to close the gap? According to former State Senator Wendy Davis, an equal pay law was vetoed by former Governor of Texas Rick Perry in 2013. In his veto statement, Perry said he objected to the bill because it “duplicated federal law, which already allowed employees who felt they had been discriminated against through compensation to file a claim with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.” He also said he was concerned that it could, “lead to more regulations and hurt job creation.” However, it had been shown that the legislation would have allowed parties to proceed on cases in a nearby state court, instead of having the increased expense of having to go to federal court. According to Amanda Terkel, a Senior Political Reporter and Politics Managing Editor at The Huffington Post, forty-two states have passed equal pay laws similar to the one Perry vetoed. Equal pay laws are important because families, businesses and the economy suffer as a result. These lost wages mean families have less money to spend on goods and services that help drive economic growth. To be considered women friendly, a state should have laws requiring equal pay for equal work; Texas does not meet this criterion.
Texas does have a unique business climate since it is a state that is known for big business, often argued as the best place for business in this decade. The business climate of a state can mean a lot of different things. However, when using it as a criterion for women friendly states, it ideally recognizes women in top leadership positions and identifies how high the glass ceiling towers over them. A common misconception is that women are in lower paying jobs due to the trend that women receive less high education opportunities. However, educational attainment alone does not eliminate the wage gap nor the glass ceiling. A study conducted by National Partnership for Women and Families found that women with master’s degrees working full time, year round are paid just 70 cents for every dollar paid to men with master’s degrees. Further, among full-time, year-round workers, women with doctoral degrees are paid less than men with master’s degrees, and women with master’s degrees are paid less than men with bachelor’s degrees (“Texas Women”). The discrepancy in occupations doesn’t end with a diploma. Furthermore, women make up 2/3 of the minimum wage workforce in Texas. Unfortunately, Texas, according to former State Senator and advocate for equal pay for equal work Wendy Davis, has remained a strong opponent in raising the minimum wage, therefore further hurting low-income families and the women struggling to keep them on their feet. Contrary to what many Texas politicians and business owners believe, Texas is not a state of opportunity for all women. It is only a good place in the light of business for a privileged few.
Equal pay laws are important for women since they deserve equal pay for equal work. In Texas, women make $.79 to the male dollar. Health care access is vital to women since it dictates their right to an abortion, care for their children, breast cancer screenings, and affordability. Until June 2016, Texas had the strictest restrictions on abortion access. Texas also has the stingiest budget for the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), leaving millions of Texas women and children without health insurance. Finally, the business climate determines if women have equal access to higher paying jobs, as well as better education and equal employment opportunities. Although Texas has many tax incentives to push women to open small businesses, the state is sexist in its culture. Based off of these facts, Texas does not meet the criteria to be considered a female-friendly state. Women make up 50.4% of the Texas population, yet much work remains to be done in the name of social progress. Gender gaps, as well as discrimination and violence against women, continue to persist in Texas and, throughout the U.S., Texas is ranked as the 3rd worst (Raney). It seems as though the popularly referenced “war on women” that’s taking place across the country, as lawmakers, politicians, and men in power continue to bat around the age-old question of whether women are, in fact, people, has strong battlegrounds in Texas.
Works Cited
Gerdts, Caitlin, et al. "Impact of Clinic Closures on Women Obtaining Abortion Services after Implementation of a Restrictive Law in Texas." American Journal of Public Health, vol. 106, no. 5, May 2016, pp. 857-64. Academic Search Complete, doi:10.2105/AJPH.2016.303134. Accessed 30 Oct. 2016.
"Is Texas Good for Women?" Texas Tribune Festival 2016, Texas Tribune, 26 Sept. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybh43TitMss. Accessed 31 Oct. 2016.
Raney, Nicole. "Texas Ranks among Absolute Worst States for Women's Equality." Culture Map Austin, 19 Aug. 2015, austin.culturemap.com/news/city-life/08-19-15-texas-among-worst-states-for-womens-equality-wallethub-report/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2016.
Stevenson, Amanda J., et al. "Effect of Removal of Planned Parenthood from the Texas Women's Health Program." New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 374, no. 9, 3 Mar. 2016, pp. 853-60. Academic Search Complete, doi:10.1056/NEJMsa1511902. Accessed 1 Nov. 2016.
Terkel, Amanda. "Rick Perry Vetoes Texas Equal Pay Bill." The Huffington Post, Huffington Post, 14 June 2013, www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/14/rick-perry-equal-pay_n_3443591.html. Accessed 1 Nov. 2016.
---. "Wendy Davis Just Won: Supreme Court Vindicates Her Epic Filibuster." The Huffington Post, Huffington Post, 27 June 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wendy-davis-abortion-filibuster_us_5771371de4b017b379f677a2. Accessed 31 Oct. 2016.
"Texas Women and the Wage Gap." National Partnership for Women and Families, Apr. 2014, www.nationalpartnership.org/research-library/workplace-fairness/fair-pay/2014-tx-wage-gap.pdf. Accessed 1 Nov. 2016. Chart.