During the autumn of 2017, our newspapers and newsfeeds were filled with stories about sexual harassment in the film business, television and other industries where powerful men behaved badly. In December, “the silence breakers” of the #MeToo movement were named Time magazine’s Person of the Year.
The sheer number of cases reveals a pattern that underlies many of our institutions and organizations: Despite great gains in social and economic power in the past 50 years, women still don’t have an equal share.
Metro Charlottesville’s employment and salary numbers show disparity between women and men in the workforce. Not surprisingly, women make less money. Fewer women work full-time. Among those who are full-time and self-employed in their own incorporated businesses, only about 23 percent are women.
When women can’t reach their full economic potential because of systemic obstacles, says Darden’s Lalin Anik, everyone loses. Yet, there are reasons to be hopeful. Charlottesville’s economic gender disparity is better than the American average. There are also many women here who are starting businesses, leading companies and excelling in their fields, as you’ll see in the following pages. When a woman forges the career that she truly desires, she makes a tangible step toward greater equality.
By Samantha Baars, Sierra Bellows, Erika Howsare, Erin O’Hare, Susan Sorensen and Caite White, with contributions by Eboni Bugg and Julia Kudravetz