You've heard about the glass ceiling, but what about the sticky floor? For some working women, it's an even worse problem

"While elite professional careers dominate headlines, the reality for much of the female workforce is the sticky floor: a structural trap that keeps women concentrated in low-paid, low-mobility jobs America depends on but refuses to properly value. And with age, the glue hardens. The intersection of sexism, ageism, and unpaid caregiving creates a cumulative vulnerability that threatens women's financial security precisely when they should be consolidating it."

"In theory, experience should increase a worker's value. In practice, this is more often true for men than for women. Research shows that gender inequalities widen dramatically with age. In France, where I studied the sticky floor in a report for the Fondation des Femmes, we calculated that women between 45 and 65 lose roughly €157,000 (or $184,000) in earnings over 20 years compared with men their age."

"The same pattern exists in the United States. Highly educated professional women have made gains. But women without college degrees-especially Black and Hispanic women-remain heavily concentrated in low-paid "aging work": home care, retail, hospitality, administrative support, and personal services."

"The sticky floor is not simply about earning less at one moment in time. It is a system of low lifetime mobility. By 55, many women have already absorbed decades of the motherhood penalty."

Gender equality at work has focused on barriers to reaching leadership, but many women experience a different problem: difficulty moving out of low-paid, low-mobility jobs. This sticky floor concentrates women in roles that support productivity yet are undervalued, and the situation worsens with age as sexism and ageism compound with unpaid caregiving responsibilities. Research indicates that gender earnings gaps widen dramatically over time. In France, women aged 45 to 65 lose about €157,000 compared with men over 20 years. In the United States, highly educated women have improved outcomes, while women without college degrees—especially Black and Hispanic women—remain concentrated in low-paid “aging work” such as home care, retail, hospitality, administrative support, and personal services. The sticky floor reflects low lifetime mobility rather than a single moment of lower pay.

Read at Fast Company