Fair Pay - Still not There, Ma'am

PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY MARKS 50 YEARS OF EQUAL PAY ACT

NEW HAVEN -- Despite becoming law 50 years ago, equal pay for women remains elusive. U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a chief proponent of the Paycheck Fairness Act,  will join the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women's Teresa Younger and Allison Schieffelin Walker, a former securities trader who successfully sued Morgan Stanley for $12 million for pay discrimination, at a press conference in New Haven today.

WHERE: Community Foundation of New Haven, 70 Audubon St., New Haven, CT

WHEN: Today, Monday, June 10 at 1:30 p.m.

WHY: To call attention to the continued injustice and economic disincentive of gender-based wage discrimination, and to examine how this wage gap affects the economy.

WHO: U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro

            Teresa Younger, PCSW

            Allison Schieffelin Walker, former Wall Street executive

Background on Walker's lawsuit: http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/29/business/morgan-stanley-is-target-sex-bias-inquiry.html?src=pm

CONTACT: Christine Palm, Communications Director, PCSW at 860/836-2145

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Also lookee here: 

 

http://www.npr.org/2013/06/10/189280329/50-years-after-the-equal-pay-act-gender-wage-gap-endures

Ladies: Take your gloves off!

Equal Pay and The Evil That Men Do

Wisconsin’s Repeal of Equal Pay Rights Adds to Battles for Women

From Daily Beast  by Michelle Goldberg  | April 7, 2012 4:45 AM EDT

Governor Scott Walker signed a repeal of his state’s workplace-discrimination law—the latest battleground over the issues that matter most to women.

On Thursday, with little fanfare, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker signed a bill repealing the state’s 2009 Equal Pay Enforcement Act, which allowed victims of workplace discrimination to seek damages in state courts. In doing so, he demonstrated that our political battles over women’s rights aren’t just about sex and reproduction—they extend to every aspect of women’s lives.

Steven Senne / AP Photo
CtFreeRadicals Caption: Walker uses Wrong Finger

[...]

The Equal Pay law wasn’t just about women—it also offered protection from discrimination based on race, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, and other factors. But it was enacted largely in response to a large gap between men and women’s compensation, one that was worse than average in Wisconsin—in 2009 the state ranked 36th in the country in terms of workplace gender parity.
[...]

“The idea that pay discrimination is a myth is a myth in and of itself,” says Fatima Goss Graves, vice president for education and employment at the National Women’s Law Center. “Study after study has shown the exact opposite.”

[...]

As it happens, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is from Wisconsin. He’s compared the notion of a war on women to a war on caterpillars. If he wants to know why some women have bought into this ostensibly preposterous idea, he might take a look at what’s going on at home.

In Case You Missed It: from DailyKos

Unite Against the War on Women

[...]
New Group Poised to Challenge “War on Women”
• Virginia legislators recently tried to enact an invasive, mandatory “trans-vaginal ultrasound” measure for women seeking abortions.
• In Mississippi, lawmakers took a cue from Virginia and are now pushing the same type of regressive, restrictive legislation.
• Texas Governor, Rick Perry, has decided to deny funding to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers under the Texas Women’s Health Program.
• Some presidential candidates want to end Medicaid funding and turn it into state-by-state bloc grants.
• Personhood legislation and amendments are being actively pushed through state legislatures in attempts to criminalize contraception and family planning.
• State laws regarding voter registration designed to suppress voter turnout especially among poor women, seniors and minorities are already in place and spreading.

A new and growing movement called Unite Against The War On Women is poised to push back on measures like this, with protest marches and rallies across the country on Saturday, April 28.

Join us - Saturday, April 28th as we say NO WAY/NO HOW to these attempts to dictate our personal decisions, our bodies, our health choices, and our families.

The newly-minted organization has garnered almost 20,000 members nationally in less than two weeks in the wake of of Virginia’s “trans-vaginal ultrasound” bill and other pending legislation.

JOIN US - SHARE - PASS THE WORD - WE WILL NOT BE SILENT

 ~ * ~ * ~ *  ~ * ~ * ~ *  ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Questions? send an email to unitewomenconnecticut@gmail.com    or    ctFreeRadicals@gmail.com  
sign up at WeAreWomenMarch.net

Duh.

 

New Pew Report Points to Gender Disparity in Jobs Recovery; In Sluggish Economic Recovery, Women Fare Worse than Men

A new report from the Pew Research Center highlights gender disparities in the rates men and women are gaining and losing jobs in the recession. Although men lost more jobs in the first two years of the financial implosion, the second wave of layoffs has hit women much harder.

“From the end of the recession in June 2009 through May 2011, men gained 768,000 jobs and lowered their unemployment rate by 1.1 percentage points to 9.5%,” the report says. “Women, by contrast, lost 218,000 jobs during the same period and their unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 8.5%.” The Pew Research Center report, authored by senior researcher Rakesh Kochhar, is based on an analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.  

“This trend is important to track because it breaks with historical recovery patterns and may have a significant impact on women’s overall ability to gain financial security as the nation moves out of the recession,” said Teresa C. Younger, executive director of The Permanent Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW), a research and policy arm of the General Assembly. “This is the first time since 1970 that women have fared worse than men in the years immediately following an economic downturn. Female employment in state government seems to be the exception; women have added jobs in this sector. But it’s of concern to us that in fields not traditionally populated by women and where women have made strides, such as manufacturing and finance, they are losing jobs at a faster rate. The PCSW is paying attention to this national trend and will be watching to see its impact, if any, on Connecticut women.”

Link to the Pew Research Center Report: “In Two Years of Economic Recovery, Women Lost Jobs, Men Found Them”

Previously noted:  June, 2011 post