Massive AFL-CIO “Ask a Working Woman” Survey Reveals Women’s Top Concerns

In the largest election-year survey of women to date this year, a huge majority of the 22,000 women who answered the biannual AFL-CIO “Ask a Working Woman” survey say they are worried about basic economic issues like paying for health care, not having retirement security and pay not keeping up with the cost of living. And many working women report lacking basic benefits.

Affordable healthcare tops the list of concerns for working women— 97 percent of women across age and race lines say they are worried about the rising costs of quality healthcare. 65 percent of women rank health care as their top legislative concern.

89 percent of working women express concern for the future of young women going into the workforce, and women without college degrees are even more worried— 93 percent describe themselves as concerned for the next generation of women.

Women want CEOs and corporations held responsible for their actions and mega-profits. 48 percent of women want to limit CEO pay when workers are being laid off or losing benefits. Additionally, 47 percent of women want to protect employees’ rights to pay and retirement benefits if a company goes bankrupt.

 The legislative priorities of women remain the same across race. However, the intensity level differs somewhat. White women surveyed rank healthcare as their legislative priority 68 percent of the time while African American women who participated in the survey rank health care as a top priority for legislation 50 percent of the time.

38 percent of working women say they make all or almost all of their family income. Three-fourths of all women make half or more than half. Working women are shouldering the burden of financial family care. Their economic burden reflects their need for healthcare and retirement security, as their families are relying on them for their economic security.

A third of all women work evenings, nights, and weekends. Two in five women work different shifts than their partners or husbands, and that percentage goes up among African American women: close to half work different shifts than their significant other. Not only are they working erratic hours, but working women are also holding more than one job. Over 20 percent of women surveyed work two or more jobs.

Elizabeth Bunn, Secretary-Treasurer of the UAW, emphasized what these numbers mean to working women: “The impact of these numbers is clear – women are carrying full loads at work, putting in long days, sometimes at irregular hours, and sacrificing time with their families just to make ends meet.”

Women say they continue to feel like second-class citizens who are not treated fairly or equally. They describe feeling that their work is not valued like men’s work and that they’re viewed with less value and paid differently than their male counterparts. Additionally, they believe they do not receive the same recognition for their work as men.

 Linda Chavez-Thompson, Executive Vice President of the AFL-CIO, described the outcry seen in the survey: “Could working women be more loud and clear about what they want and need? Affordable health care. A paycheck that keeps up with the cost of living. A secure retirement. Quality child care. And they want CEOs held accountable when workers’ jobs are on the line.”

The survey results were released in a teleconference call to reporters. Among the participants were Linda Chavez-Thompson, Executive Vice President of the AFL-CIO; Elizabeth Bunn, Secretary-Treasurer of the UAW and Chair of the AFL-CIO’s Working Women Committee and Meagan Jeronimo, a working mother from Houston whose son has healthcare problems. Meagan was invited to participate because she recruited the most people to answer the survey— forty-nine women.

The Ask a Working Woman survey began on June 7th, 2006 and was run through the AFL-CIO website. Other women’s organizations such as the National Council of Women’s Organizations and Mom’sRising.org participated in the outreach for the survey. This year’s survey is the sixth for the AFL-CIO; it has been conducted in various forms since 1997.

The AFL-CIO is the nation’s largest organization of working women. The survey gives working women the opportunity to voice their concerns and tell lawmakers how they can better represent them.

Contact: Alison Omens (202) 637-5018