Time’s Running Out to Pass the Paycheck Fairness Act — Contact Your Senator Today!

By Deborah J. Vagins, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office As the clock ticks down in the 111th Congress, there is little time left to finish critical pieces of legislation. In this economic downturn, however, there is nothing more urgently needed than helping families bring home fair wages. Unfortunately, a pernicious wage gap remains between [...]

Equal Pay Day: The Wage Gap between Mothers and Everyone Else

I’m frustrated by Equal Pay Day. Yes, I think it’s important to point out that the wage gap between men and women still exists, and that a significant chunk of it is unexplained – likely sex discrimination. Yes, I think using a day in April to symbolize how far into 2010 a woman has to [...]

Pay Equity and Sick Leave

Re-posted from Working Mother Magazine’s Blog (see link at bottom) National Pay Equity Day will be held on April 20, 2010. While paid sick days are important for all workers, this benefit is even more important to working women and working mothers who typically are the main caregivers of their families while also being most deeply [...]

When will we dictate policy to protect our future generations?

Why are other countries recognizing the need for a paid stay-at home option, yet we are not? When will we dictate policy to protect our future generations? Our country’s leaders seem to be primarily concerned with the here and now, instead of maintaining a balance that satisfies the present and the future. When will we, [...]

Compensation for Parents

Most parents are overwhelmed when first entering into parenthood. This can cause emotional frustration and financial worry. To relieve this emotional burden, all parents should receive paid maternity and paternity leave for the first two years of their children’s lives. By providing this supplementation to a family’s income, a government acknowledges, and honors, the important [...]

Sex, Love and Labor Statistics

On NPR this week, I was asked if there’s any good in the new statistics showing that women now outnumber men in the work force.  Maybe.   If it lets us embrace women as breadwinners, I said, that would be healthy.   Even healthier: If men do their part at home and free women to keep the [...]

It’s Equal Pay Day!

Click here to read the whole post from Your (Wo)man in Washington.
In order to make what the average man made in 2008, the average woman has to work all of that year, and through today, April 28, in 2009. Equal Pay Day signifies that 23% gap between men’s and women’s wages, assuming both work year round and full time.

What’s $1.00 minus .78 cents?

What’s $1.00 minus .78 cents? It’s the difference between your salary and the salary of your male counterparts. If you’re a woman of color, you can subtract at least an additional 10 cents, and for single mothers you can take away even more.[1] That’s right: Just sixty cents to a man’s dollar.

Seem fair?

Announcing Blog for Fair Pay Day 2009

April 28 will mark Equal Pay Day — the point in 2009 when the average woman’s wages finally catch up with what the average man earned in 2008.

Workplace Policy Only Gets You So Far

Click here to read the whole post from Your (Wo)man in Washington®.