Today’s Throwback Thursday post is one that I wrote in 2007 about female Jewish day school teachers not getting paid as much as their male counterparts. I was reminded of this post because of President Barack Obama’s discussion on the gender pay gap during his 2014 State of the Union Address.
I don’t believe that much has changed for female day school teachers since I wrote this post. Additionally, gender discrimination in hiring practices still exists in our private schools. For example, in many yeshivas women can be hired as administrative staff, but they cannot be hired as classroom teachers. As a result, some of the best candidates for limudei chol (secular) subjects are discarded, and there is often a revolving door of male teachers (those willing to take part time low paying afternoon teaching jobs).
I am unfamiliar with the laws for private schools regarding the Equal Pay Act or gender discrimination in hiring. I know that religious organizations often find legal loopholes to permit practices that wouldn’t be allowed for other employers. It’s sad that our hard working, educated, frum female teachers still don’t get fair shake when it comes to salaries and job opportunities.
Equal Pay for Equal Work Doesn’t Apply for Day Schools
It was recently brought to my attention that women teachers don’t get the same pay as their male counterparts in many Chicagoland area Jewish day schools. It actually is a matter of policy that a woman, by virtue of her gender, gets paid at least 50% less than a man in the same position. It has long been known that limudei chol (English studies) teachers get paid less than their limudei kodesh (Hebrew studies) counterparts. One can make the argument that since Jewish studies are the most valued, schools want to show kavod to those teachers by having their pay reflect the status and esteem held both for them and a Torah education. I still think that is pushing the envelope, but I can concede on that point.
The point I can’t concede is a man and a woman, both teaching limudei kodesh at the same grade level, both at the school for the same amount of time (or in some cases the woman is there longer) and the man is making almost double what the woman is making! What is the administration’s response when questioned? That if women made a higher salary than their spouse (there are many husbands and wives who both teach) it would cause shalom bayis problems. I say, wouldn’t a higher combined parnassah help shalom bayis? I don’t really believe that men are so sexist they would be upset if their wife made the same or a higher salary! Wouldn’t most men see the larger picture that there was more money for their family to live on? It’s not as if teachers make adequate salaries to begin with – now they have to be victimized by sexism to boot?
Apparently, female teachers have thought of striking in the past, there have been petitions and meetings. Each time the point comes to a crisis, the administration asks them if they really want the children to suffer by refusing to teach – their children included in that number. There is also the threat of a constant stream of seminary girls fresh out of school who would quickly snap up the jobs without complaint. Basically, each teacher who threatened to strike was made to feel that she was replaceable.
The teachers certainly have a lawsuit on their hands, considering the schools are violating the Equal Pay Act of 1963, and many women in similar circumstances have won monetary/backpay damages in addition to appropriate pay raises. CAPS (Chicago Area Partnerships) recently published a report entitled Pathways and Progress: Best Practices to Ensure Fair Compensation. Perhaps the schools should take a look at this report and rethink it’s salary practices.
