Happy Friday! Welcome to our Media Round Up. Each week we’re collecting and sharing our favorite gender + politics stories. Here’s what caught our eye this week:

Equal Pay Day? Not for teachers. Why men make more than women in female-dominated field.

Alia Wong, USA Today

According to a new research brief from the Brookings Institution, female teachers make thousands less than their male counterparts even though women make up approximately three-fourths of K-12 teaching jobs. The research brief also controlled for credentials and other characteristics while collecting data and found that male teachers still made more on average. A reason for the gender pay wage gap in teaching for women and men includes men teaching in hard-to-staff (meaning higher-paying) roles. Another reason is teachers assuming extra duties at school, like coaching a team or teaching summer school, which means higher compensation.

Read the full story here.

Number of women in the workforce tops pre-pandemic levels for first time

Emily Peck, Axios

The latest jobs data that came out last Friday showed that the number of women in the workforce in February 2023 was higher than pre-pandemic levels for the first time. According to Axios, this matters because many would not have predicted that women’s return to work would be this strong due to the “she-cession” during the height of the pandemic. Of the 311,000 jobs added in February, 105,000 were in the leisure and hospitality sector, where women hold a majority of positions. While men’s labor force participation is much higher than women’s, at a rate of 68%, it still does not match or exceed pre-pandemic levels of workforce participation like the rates of women.

Read the full story here.

Only 22 States Have Elected Black Women To Congress

Kenyatta Victoria, Girls United

Pew Research Center reported that only 22 states have elected at least one Black woman to Congress, and only 29 states have elected at least one woman of color. Some of the Black women elected to Congress include former Senator Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois in 1992 and current Vice President Kamala Harris in 2017. In March 2023 when Jennifer McClellan was sworn into Congress representing the state of Virginia, the percentage of Black women sworn into Congress grew to 46%. Pew Research Center’s study proves that Black women are making strides in politics, however there is still a major lack of representation proportionate to the percentage of Black women in the country.

Read the full story here.

Former Rep. Pat Schroeder, a pioneer for women’s rights, dies at 82

The Associated Press

Former U.S. Representative Pat Schroeder, trailblazer for women’s and family rights in Congress, passed away on Monday night at the age of 82. Schroeder was first elected to Congress in Colorado in 1972, and became one of the Democratic Party’s influential members, winning reelection in her district 11 times. Schroeder was the first woman on the House Armed Services Committee but had to share a chair with U.S. Representative Ron Dellums of California. One of Schroeder’s greatest achievements was signing the family-leave bill in 1993 which provided job protection for care of a newborn, sick child, or parent.

Read the full story here.

Threats against Michigan women leaders highlight ongoing concerns over political violence

Barbara Rodriguez, The 19^th*

Women, especially women of color, are disproportionally impacted by threats of harassment and violence, according to experts on political violence. In Michigan, women hold a majority of leadership positions on the state level, and the state frequently receivesthreats and political violence. Governor Whitmer was the target of a kidnapping plot just before the 2020 presidential election, and earlier that year Attorney General Nessel experienced threats online. Some of the recent incidents of threats of violence towards women in politics have been linked to election denialism and white supremacist movements.

Read the full story here.