I go to a lot of meetings, and some of them are productive. Some lay the groundwork for future 
success. Others are simply vehicles for egos to preen.
To offset the waste of time of the latter, I occasionally volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. It is satisfying to see what can be accomplished by a group of people in four hours.
This past weekend, as part of Habitat’s Women Build program, I helped shingle a roof in Crescent Magnolia, the 55+ community Habitat is building in the Waterstone subdivision just south of Hillsborough. Of the 24 one-bedroom, one-story townhomes for people of modest means, 18 will be purchased by single women.
The gender imbalance can’t be attributed to the actuarial tables that show women tend to outlive men. That doesn’t show up until people reach their 80s.
The over-representation of women in lower socioeconomic groups is due to the cumulative effect of the different opportunities and responsibilities men and women have in American society.
Women historically are paid less than men for the same or similar work. When I entered the workforce after college, women made 59 cents for every dollar men made. A generation later, when my daughter entered the workforce, women made 89 cents for every dollar their male counterparts made. Moving in the right direction, but the pay gap will result in a stark difference in wealth over the course of a career.
Women traditionally have had limited career opportunities. Oftentimes companies shunt women to lower paying positions. Women tend to predominate in lower-paying fields. Many nonprofits are run and staffed by women, whereas hedge fund operators and real estate developers are usually men. In the decade I’ve been paying attention to things that come before Town Council, only one woman has proposed a development project, and council turned her down, the only time I can recall council denying a development application.
Many women have childcare responsibilities that they sometimes address by taking time off from their careers (and the full-time pay and benefits) or piece together part-time jobs to have the flexibility needed for family responsibilities. Even today, when both parents work full time, the mother tends to be the one who takes time off from work when the kids are sick or a parent is needed at school or the babysitter cancels. That can negatively affect promotions and raises. When women return to work after taking time off to raise children, they often start at a lower position than the one they left.
All of this adds up to a lower Social Security payment and a smaller retirement account. In retirement, women often are priced out of market rate housing sooner than men.
Habitat sells its homes (as opposed to renting), so low-income buyers can accrue equity. The majority female crews this past week building houses so the majority female homeowners can build wealth made the work all the more meaningful.
— Nancy Oates
