Summit focuses on women in workplace

The migration of Montana’s economy toward the state’s urban centers bodes well for women workers, but female professionals have work to do to catch up to their male counterparts, a policy analyst said Thursday.

By JOHN HARRINGTON – IR Staff Writer

Speaking at the Women & the Montana Economy Summit at the Holiday Inn Downtown, Deb Halliday of the Missoula-based Center for Policy Analysis and Community Change told a crowd of more than 70 professional women from around the state that growth of Montana’s cities leads to more opportunities for women.

"It’s in the emerging urban economies where we find not just the super-low-wage jobs but the business service class that’s rising," she said. "Among attorneys, accountants and engineers, women are becoming better represented."

She noted that 40 percent of the people who recently passed the Montana Bar Exam were women, and that women make up 55 percent of the accountants and auditors in the state. Despite gains, women make up just 3 percent of the state’s engineers.

Still, Halliday said, there are distinct challenges for Montana’s working women, who on average earn just 58 cents for every dollar earned by a Montana man, making for one of the largest wage gaps in the country.

The summit, the first of its kind here, brought together professional women from all corners of the state for a chance to network and develop strategies for building womens’ status in the workplace. Economic development officials and non-profit groups were heavily represented.

"This is a bringing together of people who can make a difference," Terry Kendrick of CPAAC told the crowd. "If we want to make life better for Montana women and families, we are the catalysts for that change."

Halliday said the growth of women-owned businesses in Montana is among the highest in the country, another fact that’s helped as the state’s economy becomes increasingly urban.

"It’s easier for women to start a business in a city area because there’s less capital needed up front," she said.

The two-day summit, which wraps up this morning, included roundtables on Native American economic development, building enlightened leadership and developing skills as advocates and policy makers. This morning, the group hopes to establish two or three specific strategies for improving the lot of women in Montana’s economy.

John Harrington

can be reached at 447-4080 or [email protected].

http://helenair.com/articles/2003/05/23/montana/c03052303_01.txt