Women Are America’s Working Class Now
Just under half of employed workers in the US are female but they make up the majority of low-paid workers. Who will be their political champion?
Meet the new working class.
Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
It's an election year, which means we'll be hearing a lot from both Democrats and Republicans claiming that their party is the one true champion of working-class Americans. Sure, but what does it mean to be part of the working class in America these days? It means being female.
If there’s one statistic that describes the "working class" it is this: Of the 869,000 workers that are paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour or less, 69% are women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Their ideal champion is one who fights for universal paid family leave, universal childcare, a higher minimum wage, improved regulations that guarantee paid sick days, and better enforcement of labor laws that protect them from wage theft and sexual harassment.