Speaking of pay equity, things do change, but only a little. The good news–President Obama signed an Executive Order creating the White House Council on Women and Girls in March of 2009. “The purpose of this Council is to ensure that American women and girls are treated fairly in all matters of public policy,” said President Obama. “My Administration has already made important progress toward that goal. I am proud that the first bill I signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act…” Notice this article from CNN also says that Ledbetter would never have known of the pay disparity if someone hadn’t slipped a note into her mailbox showing her salary compared to three men who were doing the same work.
In March of 2011, in support of the Council on Women and Girls, the White House released the first major federal study on the economic status of women since 1963—long before many of you were even born. Interestingly enough, 1963 is the same year the Equal Pay Act was signed.
The bad news—one of the results of the study was that women still earn less than men do. Women earned 59% of the wages men earned in 1963; in 2011 they earned 75% of men’s wages—an improvement of about half a penny per dollar earned every year. Pay equity was only one of the issues in the report, but it is a telling one. Women have made amazing strides in the workforce, but equal pay isn’t one of them. Here in Minnesota, Republicans have introduced bills that take a step backward in gender equity. HF 7HF 698 and HF 519, all authored by Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, and SF 282, authored by Sen. Michael Jungbauer, R-East Bethel, aim to repeal the Local Government Pay Equity Act. In addition to repealing the local government reporting mechanism, these proposed bills also remove language endorsing gender wage equity from Minnesota statute.
I love what Arvonne Frasier has to say about pay equity. “The age-old beliefs that women’s work is less valuable and that women don’t need money to support families is still alive and well. Women’s pay is generally still not equal to that of men, but groceries cost the same for everyone.” So what do you think about pay equity–is it possible? Are your wages equal? How do you know?
Karen
About Karen