Today is Equal Pay Day!

[redqueen]

http://www.pay-equity.org/day.html

Equal Pay Day

Each year, the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) organizes the national observance of Equal Pay Day to raise awareness about unfair pay for women and people of color in America. In 2004, Equal Pay Day was on Tuesday, April 20. Equal Pay Day is observed in April to indicate how far into each year a woman must work to earn as much as a man earned in the previous year. Tuesday symbolizes the day when women's wages catch up to men's wages from the previous week. Because women on average earn less, they must work longer for the same pay. For women of color, the wage gap is greater, as shown in our fact sheet.


The wage gap is widening... we need to keep talking about this. Most single-parent households are headed by women!


The gap between median earnings of full-time, year-round workers widened last year, with women's earnings 76% of men's, down from 77% in 2002. Women's earnings were $30,724, compared to $40,668 for men. The last time the female-to-male earnings ratio declined was 1998-99 (see table, "The Wage Gap over Time").

Median earnings for women of color continue to be lower, in general, than earnings for men as a whole. In 2003, the earnings for African American women were $26,989, 66% of men's earnings (down from 68% last year); Latinas at $22,363, 55% of men's earnings (down from 56% last year); and Asian American women at $32,446, 80% of men's earnings (wage gap remained the same).

[FloridaPat]

1. Amamzing it took this long to decline with the anti-female people running

this country. I have a great solution for this though. Doesn't even require forcing companies to pay fair. Women get 24% less pay - they get a 24% discount on everything they buy - and I mean everything. African American women - they get 34%. Latinas 45% dicount. Asian women 20%.

[Lucky Luciano]

5. Sounds like a plan Florida

I'll have my girlfriend buy everything!

[redqueen]

2. Re-introduction of Paycheck Fairness Act

On April 19, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) will reintroduce the Paycheck Fairness Act to strengthen equal pay protection through better enforcement. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will file the Fair Pay Act to address the problem of lower wages in fields dominated by women and people of color. After four decades since the passage of the Equal Pay Act, the Democratic Party is fighting side by side with women workers to keep paychecks from coming up short.

While Democrats work to enable women to receive equal pay, Washington Republicans and the Bush administration refuse even to acknowledge that there is a pay gap, eliminating programs to train women for higher paying jobs, and trying to cut back on equal pay enforcement.

[wildflower]

17. I'm glad to hear about this.

About the reintroduction of the Paycheck Fairness Act. For some strange reason I hadn't heard anything about it in the news.

Thanks!

-wildflower

[VelmaD]

18. Of course not...

I mean...no pope=no news.:eyes:

[FizzFuzz]

26. kicking and I'd love a link to this info

The women's center at the college I work at needs to power up, methinks--

No publicity re: V-Day, An e-mailing--no graphics, no PR announcing the upcoming "Take Back the Night" rally, and certainly no publicity concerning Equal Pay Day. I'd never even heard of it till now.

Sheesh.

Thanks :)

[redqueen]

28. Here's the link.

http://www.democrats.org/blog/display/00011899.html

My pleasure. :hi:

[redqueen]

3. *sigh*

:kick:

[Telly Savalas]

4. Pope!

[VelmaD]

6. And of course this gets burried...

under the pope-a-palooza. How sadly ironic. *sigh*

[VelmaD]

7. kickety

because it's just as important as 712 pope threads

:kick:

[RagingInMiami]

8. Today is Sequal Pope Day!

[VelmaD]

9. Ok people...nominate this thread...

so there's something on the greatest page besides the pope.

[Cats Against Frist]

10. Kick the pope

Thank you -- THIS is important.

[VelmaD]

11. stay up there

I'm being hard-headed 'cause I'm tired of watching this sink like a stone

[redqueen]

12. I appreciate it...

:hug:

Little wonder we've made so little progress in the past 40 years!

[VelmaD]

13. What astounds me is that people don't see the irony...

of this thread continuing to fall while threads about one of the staunchest opponents of women's rights in the world proliferate like weeds.

[redqueen]

15. Bitter irony indeed. n/t

[Solly Mack]

14. Thank you for posting this!

Nominated...it needs to seen and read.

[RagingInMiami]

16. Nominated

Let the white smoke flow as we've chosen a thread for the Greatest Page.

[VelmaD]

19. It really pisses me off...

that I have to keep kicking this

[redqueen]

20. It's New Pope Day first, Equal Pay Day second, apparently.

A woman on another forum told me something along the lines of, 'bah, f$#& you! I think men should make less than us girls!'

:rofl:

Notice she said 'girls'... x(

[entanglement]

21. Nominated.

According to the site, Latinos make the least amount of money

Hispanic Men $24,638
Hispanic Women $20,527

as compared to almost $39,000 for white males. I knew wage disparities existed, but had no idea they were so wide. ;(

[redqueen]

22. Thank you.

[redqueen]

23. Another kick...

this issue really does deserve more attention, I think.

[VelmaD]

24. punt

Back up top with you

[redqueen]

25. Thanks again.

Hope somebody noticed it and took an interest.

[FizzFuzz]

27. Ironic that Secretary's Week or Day or whatever is around now---

Give your crappily paid, underappreciated, overworked secretary a nice bouquet of flowers, provide a nice lunch for the girls and give 'em a pat on the head. (Or on the behind, if you're so inclined). Put up some hand made posters with hearts and smiley faces and exclamation points, telling them how loved they are.

Continue shitty paychecks.

[redqueen]

29. Hey, it's worked so far.

See how many responses this got?

[ultraist]

30. Unequal pay is forcing millions of moms and children into poverty

This article is specifically about MN but is applicable to all states.

http://www.mtn.org/mnaflcio/equalpayflyer.html

Gender inequality in the workplace reduces women's wages and hurts their families. Paying Minnesota women as much as comparable men would dramatically raise family incomes and reduce poverty rates:

Single mothers' earnings would rise an average of $2,788 annually, cutting poverty rates for their families by nearly two-thirds, from 23.0 percent to 7.9 percent. Single women with no children would earn an additional $2,843 annually, and their poverty rates would fall from 9.1 percent to 2.4 percent. Married women's earnings would rise an additional $3,506, reducing their families' poverty rates from 2.6 percent to 0.9 percent.

Family Poverty Rates

With and Without Equal Pay in Minnesota

Single Mom with Equal Pay - 7%

Single Mom without Equal Pay - 22%

[redqueen]

32. Thanks for those figures and the link.

I wonder why this issue doesn't seem to resonate with many people.

[sweetheart]

31. Perhaps its time the public paid out a cheque

Maybe every woman in this "gap" should be paid a gross sum for the
difference out of the US military budget. Then we could heal the
would over night, and call it a payment for all the sons and daughters
of women that have been usurped by the machine.

Gosh, how many generations does it take for people who are already
equal to be equal under the law? Its a disgrace.

[redqueen]

33. A very long time, apparently.

I wonder how the re-introduction of the Paycheck Fairness Act went.

Those 'family values' republicans should have jumped at the chance to pass it.