The flip side of nation’s ‘most livable city’
Pittsburgh’s reputation as America’s Most Livable City has been a public relations boon for at least two decades. Headlines and stories about how the city rode the crest of the medical and high-tech sectors out of the collapsing steel industry have renewed the city’s confidence and swag.
Pittsburgh’s employment and quality-of-life gains, however, aren’t the whole story: Black women continue to be the lowest-paid group in the region, averaging 53 cents for every dollar earned by a white man. Black women also make less than their white female counterparts.
These disparities mark the flip side of the Most Livable City hype: For Black women, Pittsburgh is one of the nation’s most unlivable cities.
Black people, especially Black women, can increase their economic earning power simply by moving to almost any other city in America. Small wonder a noticeable Black migration from Western Pennsylvania has taken hold in recent years. Those who stay here may find themselves disadvantaged by generations of discriminatory practices and attitudes.
Changing conditions from the streets to the suites will require transparency, honesty and clear-eyed and focused efforts. Whether Pittsburgh responds positively to such initiatives will say a lot about the kind of region it wants to become.
Post-Gazette business reporter Tim Grant recently wrote about a coalition of Pittsburgh-based women’s organizations that have launched a regional partnership called “Level Up.” Among other things, it seeks to close the gender wage gap that disproportionately impacts women of color.
Level Up is fueled by the sweat equity of several influential organizations, including the Black Women’s Policy Center, the Women and Girls Foundation, the YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh and GirlGov.
The campaign recently sent a letter to 200 employers across the region concerning the wage gap between women and men in general, and between women of color and everyone else in particular.
The letter calls for five steps toward equity that include pay transparency early in the hiring process, eliminating “desired salary” and salary history questions in job applications, annual companywide diversity training, and an annual review of gender and race pay differences.
To be sure, many regional employers will, initially at least, ignore these steps toward equality, content to focus on the bottom line, even if it is sustained by glaring pay inequities. The Level Up campaign will challenge them to consider the real world effects of racial and gender inequality.
Eliminating structural inequality in the Pittsburgh region will take decades — all the more reason to establish baselines now that will measure and guide future progress.