Business

Mentoring has always been a part of the workplace atmosphere for men. As more women enter the workforce, they too are becoming a vital part of the networking and mentoring process. Today, women are seeing more of the positive impacts created by mentoring and networking as they advance in their careers.

Differences Between Networking and Mentoring
Networking is important when you are trying to find a job/career. Everyone has heard: “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” Networking allows women the opportunity to meet other people (especially women) who have similar professional interests.

Mentors are people with experience who can give advice and help you move up in your field. Mentors are important for women entering the workforce as they can help guide decisions made early on and throughout a woman’s career. While a mentor can be helpful when looking for a job, it also important to find a mentor once you have a job. A mentor can help you to begin looking at career options.

Similarities Between Networking and Mentoring
Relationships are a part of everyone’s life, whether between friends, family members or significant others. (more…)

Women have made great strides toward economic equity over the last several decades. For many women and their families, however, the challenge of achieving economic self-sufficiency remains an uphill battle. Although the majority of families rely on women’s wages to make ends meet, women continue to earn less than men and are nearly twice as likely to be poor as men.

To advance economic opportunities for women and their families, Women Work! strives to promote women’s entry into higher-paying work and help workers balance work and family.

Click here for basic information about women in the workforce.

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The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) was designed to increase the employment, retention, earnings and occupational skills of the American workforce by creating a simple yet comprehensive system to meet the needs of all job seekers. But for many unemployed and underemployed women, WIA has not met this commitment. Significant reforms are needed to ensure that the workforce investment system can meet the needs of women who face barriers on the road to economic security.

Women Work! advocates for reforms in WIA to increase women’s access to training for high-skill, high-wage, and nontraditional careers.

Policy Resources

• Coalition on Women and Job Training: Six Steps to a better Job Training System for Women (2006)
• Letter to Senate HELP committee from Women Work! Member Organizations (2003)
• Women Work! Survey of One-Stop Services (2003)

Too many women and their families are living paycheck to paycheck, working in low-paying jobs without benefits and with few prospects for advancement. Over 14 million adult women in the United States live in poverty, while millions more struggle at incomes just above the poverty line.

Women are more likely to be poor than men.

• There are over 14 million adult women in the United States living under the federal poverty line, compared to 9.5 million adult men. Almost 6 million women live in extreme poverty, defined by having an income of less than half of the federal poverty level.¹
• Women are 40 percent more likely to be poor than men. One in eight women is poor, compared to about one in eleven men.²
• Women represent 60 percent of the total number of adults in poverty,³ but only 51 percent of the total adult population.⁴

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Despite their increasing presence in the workforce, women are more likely than men to experience interruptions in their careers. This is due largely to time spent caring for children or elderly family members. Women still face real barriers when re-entering the workforce; many return to less skilled, lower paid positions than those they left.

Women remain much more likely than men to experience career interruptions, largely due to domestic responsibilities.

• One in four women leaves her job around the time of the birth of her first child.¹
  
• Among mothers with children younger than one year old, only 53.8 percent are in the labor force.²
• Caring for an elderly relative is also often the reason for a gap in workforce involvement. Thirty four million adults (16 percent of population) provide care to adults 50+ years.³Women are more likely than men to be family caregivers. Research suggests that between 59 and 75 percent of family caregivers are women.^{4, 5, 6}
• For women, eldercare has a significant impact on advancement at work. One third of caregivers decrease their work hours, 29 percent pass on promotions, training or assignments, 22 percent take a leave of absence, 20 percent switch from full to part time employment, 16 percent quit and thirteen percent retire early.⁷

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Women have an enormous presence in the current workforce in the U.S.

• Women comprised 46 percent of the total U.S. labor force in 2006.¹
• In 2006, there were a record 67 million employed women in the U.S.²
• 70 million women were labor force participants—working or looking for work—in 2006.³
  
• The labor force participation rate for all women was 59.4 percent in 2006.⁴
• The labor force participation rate for mothers is 70.9 percent.⁵
• By race the rates are:
  • Black women 61.7%;
  • White women 59 %;
  • Asian women 58.3 %
  • Hispanic women 56.1%.⁶

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The Voice for Women’s Education and Economic Equity

We Work! is a quarterly magazine sent to Women Work! members.

Summer 2007

In this Issue

Message from the Chair and President Page 4
Woman of Triumph: Danielle Smith Page 5
Work That Fits Page 6
The Issues: Coalitions In The Field  Page 8
Legislator Profile: Edward M. Kennedy Page 9
In The Field: iWorks! Works for Women Page 10
2007 Conference Special Page 12
Employer Spotlight Page 14
Woman to Woman  page 15

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More Education Needed?

Once you’ve chosen a new career direction, decide if you need more education. This might be a six-week adult-ed class in database management or a new degree in early childhood development.

You may have life or work experience that can substitute for formal classes. You’ll have to decide if you know enough for your new opportunity.

Is More Schooling Necessary?

Be sure you really need to return to school before moving in a new direction. Many women find it exhilarating to return to the classroom after time away. The intellectual stimulation may be very welcome after years away from school. And being back on a college campus can feel invigorating after years of being grown up, or it may feel threatening.

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Dear Anne,

As I often say to women I work with, my heart is always first and foremost with the single mothers. Aside from the responsibilities of providing both emotional and financial support to your kids, you are also handling the many difficult child raising questions that plague most parents on your own. Parenting is a tough enough job with two people working on it, so clearly it’s not an easy task for one person.

Many single mothers feel they have to do it all on their own, and are hesitant to ask for help from friends and family members. You haven’t said whether that description fits you, but it’s important to address. What kind of a community do you have around you? Are you close to your family? Do you have close friends who you can count on when you need a listening ear, a carpool, or someone who can pick you up some milk on her run to the store so you don’t have to pack your kids in the car to do that small task?

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Subscribe to Action Works! Women’s Voices for Change and become part of the nation’s largest network of advocates dedicated to advancing economic justice and equality for women.

Service providers, students, women in transition, citizen advocates and leaders in the women’s community have already added their voices to the chorus. Sign up now and receive up-to-the-minute alerts on policy issues affecting women’s economic justice.

This six-session, hands-on financial education program was designed especially for women who are facing some of life’s toughest difficulties, and struggling to gain a foothold in a world where stability and financial security seem like distant dreams.

The goal of the Making Money Work! financial education program is to help participants achieve financial stability and effectively manage a limited earned income by providing subject matter information, motivational participatory learning activities, and access to resources. The program introduces participants to basic financial concepts, such as goal setting, determining needs versus wants, developing a spending plan, managing a checking account, and the wise use of credit.

Making Money Work! Online Facilitator’s Guide

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APRIL 23, 2001 — In this graduation season, Americans have advice for the millions of women job-seekers who are graduating from high school, college and job training programs: a professional appearance will help you get and keep a job, and win responsibilities, raises and promotions. A new poll finds that nearly seven in ten Americans (69 percent) – and more than eight in ten women – say clothing, hair and makeup are very or extremely important for a woman on the job, and for her confidence. Large majorities say that a woman’s appearance affects whether she is taken seriously, asked to represent her company at outside meetings, and considered for raises and promotions.

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Download the Order Form for requesting free copies of WYI! materials.
Download the WYI! Tip Sheet English, Spanish 
Download the WYI! Family Guide Tip Sheet
Download the WYI Evaluation Form
(Right click on the link and select “save as” to save a copy of the form to your computer.)

As the saying goes, “you only have one chance to make a first impression,” but there is a great deal a person can do to make that impression a positive and lasting one. Realizing the value of presenting a professional appearance, Women Work!, in partnership with the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association (CTFA), created a unique program to help women in transition put their best foot forward in today’s competitive job market. Work Your Image! Creating a Professional Image to Get and Keep a Job® (WYI!) provides basic information for women entering or re-entering the workforce with a common-sense approach to creating a positive first impression.

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The National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education (NCWGE) released a report in Oct. 2001 that found programs designed to help women and girls succeed in vocational education are rapidly collapsing, leaving many women and girls in jeopardy of losing out on important educational opportunities. NCWGE expressed concern that the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act of 1998 — the federal law governing vocational education at secondary and post-secondary institutions — provides insufficient support for women and girls at a time when welfare time-limits are fast approaching.

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Recruiting for the Information Technology Age (RITA) is a multifaceted project to increase the number of women represented in the information technology (IT) sector. Through RITA, Women Work!’s member programs partner with local employers to create collaborative relationships that move women into high-paying, stable jobs. Employer partners inform training design and provide job shadowing, internship, on-the-job-training and site visit opportunities to students. As a result, women are knowledgeable about job opportunities and requirements, gain work experience and have a ‘foot in the door’ with their local employers.

Project Outcomes

• Women Work! has implemented RITA at 17 sites in 11 states since 1998, working with member organizations in North Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Oregon, South Dakota, Maine, New Jersey, Colorado, Wisconsin and Idaho
• Hundreds of women have been exposed to IT careers, with more than 300 completing education and training that leads to an internship, apprenticeship, or full-time job earning at least $9.00 an hour
• Partnerships have been established with nearly 100 IT employers
• Women Work! creates resources and publications, such as Getting IT Across , to share strategies for recruiting women into lucrative, non-traditional careers

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Here are some helpful links and resources to help you contact members of the Administration, Senate and House of Representatives.

President

President George W. Bush
Website: www.whitehouse.gov
Email: [email protected]

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
Fax: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD: 202-456-6213
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Find out what Women Work! can do for you during two sessions of Women Work!shops. Women Work! staff and members will give you an overview of the resources, teaching tools, curricula and training the organization has to offer. You will leave each session with new tools and suggestions for how to use them in your work and life. Topics include:

Domestic Violence Survivors and the Legal System
Presenter: Rebecca Henry
Women Work! and the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence recently partnered to produce Finding a Lawyer, a tip sheet which helps survivors of domestic violence understand the basics about finding and working with a lawyer. In this session you will learn more about recent research which sites access to legal services and improved economic status as the top two factors affecting declines in intimate partner violence. You’ll also learn more about the ways you can help your clients navigate the legal system.

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Capitol Hill Equal Pay Day Rally

US Capitol Building West Lawn (front lawn)

1:30 p.m. – 2:20 p.m.

April 24, 2007

Legislators leading the fight for wage equity in the House and the Senate were featured speakers at the rally. (l. to r.) Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) joined Women Work! President and CEO Jill Miller at the podium.		Women Work! organized an Equal Pay Day Rally to demand Congressional support for women’s wage equity in 2007.
The rally was motivating for all who attended.		Evelyn Murphy, founder of the WAGE project also spoke at the rally.

After years of effort, the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act was signed into law by President Bush on August 12, 2006. The law takes several positive steps to ensure that women in transition have greater access to the career and technical education system.

Read Women Works!’s Advocate’s Guide to Perkins IV

Policy Resources

Perkins Implementation Action Kit

Perkins III Data Tables
Inform your Perkins advocacy with statistics on displaced homemakers and single parents in career and technical education programs in your State.

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IN – Indiana Women Work! has seen extensive growth since affiliating. In addition to their annual Women & Work conference this year, INWW will be awarding a small scholarship to a woman going back to school.

NE – Nebraska Women Work! is a newer affiliate that has cultivated a committed core of members. They are very proud of their recent accomplishments, including media coverage and the creation of a survey to assess the barriers NE women face in the workforce.

MD – Maryland Women Work! sponsored a conference early this year called “Opportunities for Change in Ocean City ”. They host an annual legislative day where service participants learn about their valuable role in civic matters and meet with delegates from around the state.

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• NEW! Women Work! introduces the 2009 Public Policy Agenda! The Public Policy Agenda sets priorities for legislative and advocacy work in the Women Work! national office and in the field. In 2009, Women Work! will fight for policies that bolster the economic security of women and their families.
• Learn more about women’s economic justice issues.
• Follow the status of key public policies that affect women’s employment and educational equity. Visit our Policy Tracker
• Subscribe to Action Works! and add your voice to the nation’s largest network of advocates demanding economic justice and equality for women.

Use the Women Work! Policy Tracker to follow developments in federal legislation that affects women entering, re-entering, and advancing in the workplace.

Workforce Investment Act (WIA) 
The nation’s workforce investment system, WIA is long overdue for reauthorization. Women Work! advocates for reforms in WIA to increase women’s access to training for high-skill, high-wage, and nontraditional careers.

Pay Equity Legislation
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act are critical to women’s workplace equity and economic security.

Higher Education Act (HEA)
The 2008 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act contains provisions that will aid nontraditional students in obtaining higher education.

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Women Work!’s teaching tools and curricula are available FREE to organizational members. Resources listed in this section can be downloaded from the Members Only section of this website. Select resources are also available in hard copy or on CD. To order resources complete the order form and mail or fax it to Women Work!. A processing fee of $5 will be charged for each CD ordered.

Work Your Image!

Leader’s Guide – Item # 11

Participant’s Guide – Item # 12

Personal Worksheet – Item # 13

Personal Tip Sheet (English) – Item # 14

Personal Tip Sheet (Spanish) – Item # 15

Family Guide Tip Sheet – Item # 16

Creating a Professional Image to Get and Keep a Job®

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This is a private area of Women Work! Online for members only. If you are not a Women Work! current member, please visit our Membership Page for information on joining or renewing. If you are trying to renew your membership, please log-in and follow the prompts to the renewal form.

• If you are a first-time user,
• If you forgot your ID or password,
• If you want to change your password,
• If you require assistance, please contact us at [email protected]or 202-467-6346.

Workforce Development that Works For Women
Women Work! is collecting best practices for serving women in economic transition. Selected best practices will be featured in a publication to be issued by Women Work! in September 2008 and widely disseminated to policymakers and the workforce development community.

Recruiting for the Information Technology Age (RITA)
RITA is a multifaceted initiative to increase the number of women in the information technology sector.

iWorks! A Curriculum for the 21st Century Worker
The iWorks! curriculum, aimed at promoting information literacy for job seekers, is currently being piloted by five Women Work! member programs.

Women Work! Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) Education Campaign
The IDA Education Campaign includes both information about IDAs themselves and information about the recently completed teleconference series regarding these important tools for women’s economic self-sufficiency.

Women Work! State Affiliates are organized groups of members working together to improve the status of women in their states. Together, Women Work! members advance positive social and economic change. In the past year we have seen some incredible work from our states including a published survey documenting barriers faced by women in Nebraska, a legislative lobby day in Maryland and the approval of a joint resolution in the Illinois State Legislature that created a displaced homemaker task force.

State Affiliate Links:

• State Affiliate Activities

• List of State Affiliates and Their Contacts

Interested in organizing an affiliate in your state?

Women Work! looks forward to organizing affiliate networks in all 50 states! Our national staff will lend their expertise in helping to create a thriving state level network to further women’s economic security in your state! Contact Sarah Rose-Jensen, Membership and Field Services Manager, to find out more!

As the nation works its way out of an economic crisis, public policies become all the more important for steering us toward recovery and growth. Policies that strengthen the American workforce, encourage innovation, and support struggling families are an investment that we must make in our future. Given women’s vital role in the workforce, their economic security figures prominently into the economic success of our country and must be supported. In 2009,
Women Work! will fight for policies that bolster the economic security of women and their families.

Economic Recovery That Includes Women

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Consider bringing Women Work!’s field team to your next conference, regional meeting or event to conduct a training. To set up a training contact Sarah Rose-Jensen at (202) 467-6346 or at [email protected]. Women Work! staff can present on any of the following topics:

Women Work! The Power of a Network – An overview of Women Work!’s history, activities and membership categories.

Joining the Network – Technical Assistance on State Affiliation

Creating and Living your Vision and Mission – A facilitated process for revisiting or creating a truly representative vision and mission

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Keep up-to-date with the Economic Equity Insider, the Women Work! legislative update on women’s workforce development issues, vocational education, federal financial aid, welfare policy and related issues, which is published weekly when Congress is in session. To receive the Insider, join Women Work! now.

Members, sign in now and go to Download Free Publications to view the current Economic Equity Insider.

Read Past Issues

March

March 10, 2009

• Reminder: Make Your Advocacy Day Appointments!
• Paycheck Fairness Act Gaining Cosponsors in Senate
• While Congress Attempts to Finish FY 2009 Appropriations, Obama Releases Blueprint for FY 2010 Budget
• Family-Friendly Policies Take Center Stage at House Hearing

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The Women Work! Advocacy Toolkit is designed to give you all the skills you need to be a successful advocate for women’s economic justice and equality.

The Advocacy Toolkit is benefit available only to Women Work! members. Each installment will be released first through the Economic Equity Insider and and will be available to download through the members only section of the web site.

• Women Work! Advocacy Toolkit:Cover
• Women Work! Advocacy Toolkit: Table of Contents
• Women Work! Advocacy Toolkit: How to Use This Guide
• Section #1: Hosting Elected Officials At Your Program
• Section #2: Federal Legislative 101
• Section #3: Meeting with Your Legislators
• Section #4: Engaging Clients in Advocacy
• Section #5: Creating an Advocacy Action Calendar
• Section#6: Using Data/Telling Stories
• Section #7: Budget and Appropriations 101
• Section #8: Managing the Media
• Section #9: Building Relationships With Your Legislator
• Download the entire Tool Kit here

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Reach the nation’s largest network of women’s education and job training programs by advertising in We Work! magazine. Our broad and diverse constituency includes members, donors and other supporters that have made an investment in the goals of Women Work!

For an overview of the magazine, click here.

For ad rates or more information, contact Development Manager, Tamika Hodnett-Johnston via email or phone at (202) 467-6346.

Chutes and Ladders: The Search for Solid Ground for Women in the Workforce

Women Work!’s critical Census study has found that single mothers and displaced homemakers are not a disappearing phenomenon in the United States. In fact, these family groups are on the increase and likely to be vastly over-represented in the nation’s low-paying service jobs. Read more and download the full report…

State Displaced Homemaker Legislation Update

More than ever, state support for displaced homemakers is critical to the needs of this population and the programs that help them reach economic self-sufficiency. Women Work! monitors changes in the legislation and support for program servicing displaced homemakers and produces a legislative update. Read more and find links to state legislation…

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