Female engineers make, on average, $11,000 less than their male counterparts.
West Virginia ranks at the bottom in the nation for the percentage of women who hold a bachelor’s degree — just 22 percent.
Many workplace policies do not address the parenting or flex needs of all employees.
These are just a few of the statistics shared and discussed Wednesday at the first West Virginia Women Moving Forward — a gathering of about 72 women put together by Joyce McConnell, WVU provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, and Laurie Erickson, leader of the Erickson Foundation.
Erickson called it a big day for all who champion women.
“We don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, wimpering and complaining,” she said in her opening remarks. “We make progress by implementing ideas.”
The ideas came as the women broke into three groups at the WVU Erickson Alumni Center and talked about what issues — in certain categories — could be worked on and ultimately solved. The goal is to make West Virginia a better place by empowering women.
The categories looked at were workplace barriers, education and the wage gap.
“These were three areas we know there are disparities for women. The reason we do this is for all the wonderful little girls who follow behind us,” WVU’s provost told the group.
She said the hope is to make the path for them a little easier and more equitable. The goal is also to keep more people — men and women — in West Virginia by providing more jobs, better training and a better way of life.
“This is not the end of a conversation,” McConnell said. “This is the beginning of action.”
The women, who came from WVU, Marshall University, private business and charitable organizations from across the state, will reconvene a few more times throughout 2019 to work on changes deemed necessary.
