Commission to Discuss Status of Women

By Lookout Staff

April 27 -- Santa Monica women make less than men with similar educations and are significantly poorer as they grow older, according to a City report that will be presented Wednesday night.

The report by the Commission on the Status of Women -- which is likely the first city-sponsored study of Santa Monica girls and women -- will be presented and discussed at 6 p.m. at the Ken Edwards Center.

The Commission is inviting input from the City Council, City agencies, service providers, educators, community activists and other stakeholders in an effort to add context to the 22 statistical observations contained in the draft report. The final report is scheduled for presentation to the City Council next month.

“The Commission on the Status of Women hopes the report can be used as a tool to identify areas of concern, recommend the means to address those concerns, highlight areas for further investigation and serve as a benchmark for future studies,” according to a statement issued by the commission.

Data presented in the report was gathered primarily from published secondary sources and supplemented by information from agencies and community organizations serving groups for whom data has not typically been collected.

Among the report’s findings:

• Women comprise 47 percent of the Santa Monica labor force, as well as 47 percent of the unemployed labor force. Employed women residing in Santa Monica are heavily represented in traditionally “female” occupations. Twenty-nine percent of the city’s labor force is self-employed.
  
• The median income of women in Santa Monica is about $32,000, compared with $51,000 for men. Only 30 percent of residents that earn more than $55,000 per year are women, with greater discrepancies in earnings as earnings increase.
  
• On any given day, over half of the mothers in Santa Monica require some form of childcare. Residents’ demand for childcare is not met by existing childcare centers in the city.
  
• Some 56 percent of Santa Monica’s poor are women. In addition, women comprise 63 percent of the poor population age 55 or older, and that percentage increases rapidly with age. Women residents below the poverty line are also disproportionately represented in the 18 to 24 age range.
  
• Of Santa Monica residents receiving public assistance, the largest percentage is women. Sixty-five percent of residents receiving government subsidized in-home living assistance are women. Ninety-five percent of the residents receiving CalWorks, the state’s temporary assistance to needy single parent households, are female.

Established in 1981, the Commission on the Status of Women is charged with working to eliminate inequality between the sexes in all areas of life including, but not limited to, employment, health, education, political life and law enforcement.

The Commission is comprised of nine residents appointed by the City Council.