Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — As an employee, student and mother, St. George resident Emily Havens, 21, is facing the same challenges as many other Utah women.
While working full time as an Internet sales associate, Havens has been attending Dixie State University full time since 2012. However, she became pregnant last year with her now 3 ½-month-old daughter, Roslyn. With Roslyn’s birth, Havens and her husband, Rodney, had to make some changes.
While her husband continued to work full time selling cars, Havens’ college plans were set back for a semester as she went from a full-time student to part-time. She also stopped working in December so she could devote more time and energy toward her college and parenthood endeavors.
“I want to be able to live this life with as little regret as possible, and I know if I focused everything on work and school and not spend time with Roslyn, I would regret that sooner or later,” Havens said. “It’s hard … to just leave your baby at home. That just comes along with being a mom.”
Related Story
Women business owners face gender gap, report says
The report by Democratic staffers of the Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee found that while businesses owned by women account for 30 percent of small companies, they receive only 4.4 percent of the total dollars in conventional small-business loans. That amounts to $1 for every $23 loaned.Havens’ choice to put a hold on her own employment so she could return to Dixie as a full-time student while also caring for her daughter reflects the decisions women throughout Utah make when it comes to work and education. Being married, having children at home and gaining advanced education are factors that widen the Utah wage gap between women and men, according to a study released Thursday by Voices for Utah Children.
Curtis Miller, a student in the University of Utah Department of Economics, authored the report with Matthew Weinstein, Voices for Utah Children state priorities partnership director. Their study found Utah ranks 47th nationally as the state with the fourth largest gender wage gap.
Statistically, Utah women earn 70 cents for every dollar men earn, while the national figure is 79.2 cents, according to the study.
“Not only is Utah’s wage gap the fourth largest in the nation, it is closing at the second slowest rate,” the study says. “As a result, if the current trend continues, Utah will be the next-to-last state to see its wage gap close in 2087, a full 40 years after the national wage gap (is expected to close in 2047).”
Additionally, Miller and Weinstein’s study says that while U.S. women must obtain a bachelor’s degree to earn as much as an average man, Utah women need a master’s degree for the same level of income as Utah men.
Miller and Weinstein concluded a combination of factors influence the wage gap, including the types of education and occupations men and women pursue, as well as the possibility of discrimination, although their research did not prove the presence of workplace discrimination of women and its effect on the statewide wage gap. Weinstein said he and Miller will be continuing their research during the next semester in order to quantify what specific factors, including workplace discrimination, are behind Utah’s wage gap.
If we close the gap then it will help women who want to raise a family but also have to work. If things would become more affordable for them and if the gap closed … they wouldn't have to work as many hours to earn the same income, and they could spend more time at home with their families if they choose.
–Curtis Miller, U. student
In the report's conclusion, Miller and Weinstein drafted a list of policy recommendations to help decrease Utah’s wage gap. Weinstein said they plan to share the recommendations with Utah legislators during the upcoming session that begins Monday.
Their proposed solutions included promotion of higher education and encouragement of nontraditional fields of study for women, reducing the cost of childcare, raising take-home pay for low-income Utahns, and increasing public awareness of the earnings gap.
“We certainly encourage legislators to be concerned about this issue because it affects all Utah families one way or another,” Weinstein said.
Havens said an increase of resources like scholarships or more flexible workplace maternity leave options would be especially helpful to student mothers like herself. If at least some financial stresses could be eased in one way or another, maybe more young mothers like herself would be able to reach their educational and career goals.
“I definitely think there should be more help for mothers who are going to school full time and trying to work,” Havens said. “Quitting my job was a really hard decision for us to make.”
"If we close the gap then it will help women who want to raise a family but also have to work," Miller said. "If things would become more affordable for them and if the gap closed … they wouldn't have to work as many hours to earn the same income, and they could spend more time at home with their families if they choose.”
