get you, you can just tell them, "Money."Unfortunately, though, the answer isn't really that simple.
Equal Pay Day was started in 1996 by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) as a public awareness event to draw attention to the gap between men's and women's wages. According to the Institute for Women's Policy Research, the ratio of women’s to men’s median weekly earnings for full-time workers was 79.9 in 2008, the third consecutive decline since the historical high of 81.0 in 2005.
It appears that each year the NCPE holds a press conference with various legislators and group leaders. The group asks for two things to commemorate the day: for local groups to get the message out, and for everyone to wear red. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that Minnesota did much with the holiday this year.
It's too bad we missed it, as there was something to celebrate this year. The first bill President Obama signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which states that the 180-day statute of limitations for pay discrimination resets with each new discriminatory paycheck. The legislation addresses the procedural bar the Supreme Court found to a pay discrimination claim in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company (a case touched on at the Infinity Project launch by keynote speaker Sherrilyn Ifills ).
Although the Act is an obvious and positive step toward pay equity, it also reminds us of the many factors that contribute to the existing disparity. The battle only continues, and so next year, let's wear red.
No comments:
Post a Comment