Ask women
By Judy Sobin
how to fix the economyMORE than 80 percent of Hawaii's women work for wages. Those who don't either work in their homes or are retired.
Women make up nearly half of Hawaii's work force.
Sixty-three percent of the women in the work force have children between the ages of 6 and 17. And we still earn 75 cents for every dollar men earn.
Yet has anyone asked women how to improve the economy?
Although about 24 percent of Hawaii's workers are union members, only 10 percent of women are unionized. As a result, unlike workers in the trades, we don't "sit on the bench" when work is slow and then return to the job when work becomes available.
As anyone who's had to do that knows, "sitting on the bench" is bad enough. But women get fired -- period.
The coming layoffs at Liberty House and Bank of Hawaii will likely be of women more than men, as were the layoffs by the state.
Many of these female employees are the sole or a major part of the support for their families. Many of them have children, and one-third are likely to be single parents with little or no spousal support for their children.
This population of newly unemployed single moms will only be hurt further if the Economic Revitalization Task Force plans become law.
Under those plans, the average single mom with two kids who spends $400 per month on food will pay an additional $5.40 per month as a result of the proposed GET increase. That's the equivalent of nearly two gallons of milk at Costco prices being paid to the state in increased taxes.
Women are told not to worry, because a tax credit of up to $130 per year is proposed. But many working women will not qualify for this proposed credit or will qualify for a very small amount.
In any case, a tax credit is money that is returned to an individual long after the money is spent. A tax credit is actually exacting a loan from low-income people to pay for the state's debts or, worse, to finance tax reductions to financial institutions.
Politicians and business leaders need to get a grip and begin to honor their commitments to education, jobs, social services and the environment.
If the task force's plans go through, financial institutions, such as Bank of Hawaii and First Hawaiian Bank, will gain windfall profits. But what will women continue to get in return? Layoffs.
Women have dealt with limited budgets for years and could offer much insight to our leaders if asked. We have been in very similar financial jams, as is our state.
WHAT have we done? We have done with less, trying at all costs to take nothing away from our children. We have worked two or three jobs to make ends meet. We have gone back to school to improve our ability to earn a living. We have sat down with our families and figured out a plan. We have lived up to commitments.
Women are accustomed to doing with less, but we will never get accustomed to being destitute.
While we may not be an organized lobby, we do vote. I believe that we will vote for education, breaking up the Department of Education bureaucracy, decentralizing, putting the money back into classrooms; for industry and jobs; for supporting the arts, music, technology and science; for social services, so that no child has to go hungry, suffer from abuse or be homeless; for our environment; and for good neighborhoods, decent housing, clean beaches, parks and trails and safe streets and homes.
The decision-makers in our state have taken a short-term approach to a long-term problem. Women are accustomed to living month-to-month, but we plan for a lifetime.
When women are finally invited to the table to be heard, we will begin to get some real solutions.
Judy Sobin is executive director of Hawaii Lawyers Care,
Volunteer Legal Service, whose clients are mostly women.