7th Annual Equal Pay Day Rally TODAY!

 

Via Facebook:

 

7th Annual Equal Pay Day Rally 2013

Public · By The Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania
 

TODAY! Tuesday, April 9, 2013, Noon

Market Square, Pittsburgh

210 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA
 

Equal Pay Day 2013  

The time has come, Equal Pay Day!!! The Women & Girls Foundation of Southwestern Pennsylvania (WGF) will hold a rally in Market Square on Tuesday April, 9 2013 at 12noon. Equal Pay Day is the annual day when groups organize nationally to raise awareness of the gender wage gap throughout the country. Tuesday April 9, 2013 symbolizes how long it takes for women to catch up to men’s wages from the previous year. While men earn their wages in 365 days, on average it takes women 483 days. Nationally, women make an average of 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. In Southwest Pennsylvania women make an average of 75 cents on the dollar The goal of this day is to raise awareness around wage discrimination against women and people of color, to bring together a community of like-minded individuals, and to inform the community of upcoming events.  

Join us at lunch time in Market Square for our Resource Fair, Inspirational Speakers and much more……

Ps. Don’t Forget to Wear RED on Equal Pay Day to symbolize how far women and minorities are "in the red" with their pay!

Jobs are important (unless they're held by women)

Women doing whatever it is they do that we need not concern ourselves with

The Associated Press (And Republicans): Jobs and the economy are the number one most important issue in this country, unless those jobs are held by women and then they are a mere distraction.

Equal Pay Day Rally 2012: Economic Justice for All (Today!)

From Women And Girls Foundation:

"WGF will host Equal Pay Day Rally 2012: Economic Justice for All in Market Square on April 13th with organizing partners, New Voices Pittsburgh: Women of Color for Reproductive Justice (NVP) and the American Association of University Women Pennsylvania (AAUWPA) to raise public awareness about equal pay, and the need for economic justice for all to reduce poverty."

Equal Pay Day Rally 2012: Economic Justice for All
When: Friday, April 13th from 12:00 – 1:00pm
Where: Market Square, Downtown Pittsburgh

Today

Via The Pittsburgh Women's Blogging Society:

Equal Pay Day Rally!

Via the Women and Girls Foundation:

When the Women and Girls Foundation first began efforts to raise awareness of the wage gap and remedy this issue in Southwest PA, women were making less than 70 cents for every dollar a man was making. Since then, WGF has worked with city and county leaders throughout the region to pass wage equity legislation and to support the issue of fair pay for women. Now, in 2011, women are making 75 cents to a man's dollar. We have made change happen in our region, but there is still significant work to be done in Southwest PA and throughout the state to close the gap for women in Pennsylvania.

Equal Pay Day is commemorated annually, when groups organize nationally to raise awareness of the gender wage gap throughout the country. This day, each April, symbolizes how long it takes for women to catch up to men's wages from the previous year. While men earn their wages in 365 days, on average it takes women 483 days. Nationally, women make an average of 80 cents for every dollar a man makes and in Pennsylvania, women make 75 cents per dollar.

Hundreds of women and men have attended previous Equal Pay Day rallies. This year WGF is partnering with local organizations to bring you Equal Pay Day activities in Allegheny, Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties!

See listings below to learn more about the activities being planned for your community, and plan to join us as we rally for Equal Pay in Southwest Pennsylvania.

Allegheny County
Partner: YWCA Greater Pittsburgh Center for Race and Gender Equity

Tuesday, April 12 from 12:00 to 1:00pm Market Square Park, Downtown Pittsburgh

Rally Featuring local corporate, nonprofit and business leaders, and representitives from the Allegheny County Regional Change Agents

Equal Pay Bake Sale* (hosted by the Allegheny County Regional Change Agents) Baked goods will be available for purchase. To help illustrate the wage gap, men will be charged $1 per item, and women will be charged 75 cents

A Second Equal Pay Bake Sale* will be held at Alderdice High School (hosted by the Allegheny County Regional Change Agents)

Obama Signs His First Bill: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009

President Obama:

First of all, it is fitting that with the very first bill I sign – the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act – we are upholding one of this nation’s first principles: that we are all created equal and each deserve a chance to pursue our own version of happiness.

[snip]

Lilly Ledbetter did not set out to be a trailblazer or a household name. She was just a good hard worker who did her job -- and she did it well -- for nearly two decades before discovering that for years, she was paid less than her male colleagues for doing the very same work. Over the course of her career, she lost more than $200,000 in salary, and even more in pension and Social Security benefits -- losses that she still feels today.

Now, Lilly could have accepted her lot and moved on. She could have decided that it wasn't worth the hassle and the harassment that would inevitably come with speaking up for what she deserved. But instead, she decided that there was a principle at stake, something worth fighting for. So she set out on a journey that would take more than 10 years, take her all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, and lead to this day and this bill which will help others get the justice she was denied.

[snip]

I intend to send a clear message: That making our economy work means making sure it works for everyone. That there are no second class citizens in our workplaces, and that it's not just unfair and illegal -- it's bad for business -- to pay someone less because of their gender, or their age, race, ethnicity, religion or disability.

[snip]

And I sign this bill for my daughters, and all those who will come after us, because I want them to grow up in a nation that values their contributions, where there are no limits to their dreams and they have opportunities their mothers and grandmothers never could have imagined.

In the end, that’s why Lilly stayed the course. She knew it was too late for her – that this bill wouldn’t undo the years of injustice she faced or restore the earnings she was denied. But this grandmother from Alabama kept on fighting, because she was thinking about the next generation. It’s what we’ve always done in America – set our sights high for ourselves, but even higher for our children and grandchildren.

(Full text here.)

.

News From City Council

Got an e-mail this evening. Within it was a resolution, to be introduced tomorrow (10/16/07), by Council President Doug Shields. I'm being told it marks a "big culture shift" for the city.

Take a look at the beginning of the text of the resolution:

A Resolution authorizing the City of Pittsburgh to issue a Request for Proposals for the purpose of conducting a Gender Wage Disparity Study of the city's workforce.

Whereas, the Congress of the United States of America enacted the The Equal Pay Act of 1963, Pub. L. No. 88-38, 77 Stat. 56, (June 10, 1963) codified at 29 U.S.C. § 206(d), is a United States federal law amending the Fair Labor Standards Act, aimed at abolishing wage differentials based on sex. In passing the bill, Congress denounces sex discrimination for the following reasons:

• It depresses wages and living standards for employees necessary for their health and efficiency;
• it prevents the maximum utilization of the available labor resources
• it tends to cause labor disputes, thereby burdening, affecting, and obstructing commerce;
• it burdens commerce and the free flow of goods in commerce; and
• it constitutes an unfair method of competition; and,

Whereas, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 provides (in part) that: No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section [section 206 of title 29 of the United States Code] shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs[,] the performance of which requires equal skill , effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions, except where such payment is made pursuant to (i) a seniority system; (ii) a merit system; (iii) a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or (iv) a differential based on any other factor other than sex

Whereas, the Council of the City of Pittsburgh, as policy makers, cannot be indifferent to this matter as it pertains to the work force of the City of Pittsburgh and, moreover, wants to insure that the City is in full compliance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the United States in this and all regards; and,

Whereas, the Council of the City of Pittsburgh is mindful of its obligations and affirms that it is in full support of gender equity in the workplace and desires to insure that the City does not deliberately or inadvertantly discriminate with regard to gender pay equity in the workplace.

And with that, it's a request for proposals for a consultant to do a study to make sure the city is in compliance with all gender equity laws.

It should be interesting to watch how this plays out.