Equal Pay for Equal Work. It's Only Fair.
Yesterday, the Senate failed to pass the Fair Pay Act. What was almost worse than that defeat, were the out-of-touch, old-fashioned--and downright insulting--statements about women. Senator McCain, who didn’t even come to vote, said that instead of legislation allowing women to fight for equal pay, they simply need "education and training."
Lilly Ledbetter, whose Supreme Court case led to the creation of the Fair Pay Act, didn't need "training". She needed Fair Pay. Women today make up 56% of college graduates and nearly half of the labor force in this country. Yet women make only 73 cents to a man's dollar, and mothers only make 60 cents, for the exact same job.
Click here to sign the petition in support of the Fair Pay Act, and to send Senator McCain your resume. Their goal is to send him 100,000.
10 comments:
Thanks SO much for posting this! Just to add: African-American women earn only 63 cents, and Latinas earn only 52 cents for every dollar paid to white men.
Thanks for finding this! I'm amazed, and horrified, at the attitudes that people have towards work done by women. That we can't do the same work, that the careers we chose somehow aren't worth as much, and that unpaid labor women do is unpaid because it doesn't contribute to society! We totally need to educate our politicians on this.
Yeah, totally infuriating. Thanks, Cam.
Thanks Cammie- I have been complaining to Rich about this since I have started working... It really irks me.
This is infuriating. I am SOOOOO scared he will be the next president. Can you imagine?
I love that picture! It sucks that women don't get equal pay. We should be getting more because we do way more work at home than our hubbies. I think I should earn a salary for all the laundry I do!
I know this isn't very PC but I would much rather be at home with my babies than working.
Meaghan, that's perfectly great to say (and PC). I just think that if a woman works out of necessity or by choice she deserves equal pay for the work she does.
Sen. Clinton gave a speech on the site that called for giving moms who work and get help with daycare the right to stay home and raise their own children. I really enjoyed it.
What Jason and I also support are family friendly policies that allow women and men more paid leave (esp. with maternity leave). I think a lot of men would also like more time with their families as well. (I'll let Jason add more).
Bessie, thanks for the additional information. It's really shocking! And thanks to all for you interest in this!
I'm a stay at home mom by choice, but I was a business professional before that. Luckily I worked for a company near San Francisco that did pay women and men fair salaries, but that was the exception (the president was a woman so that probably helped things). Now I volunteer in my kids' classrooms, help in my community, run Cub Scouts, serve at church and run my house. All these things are unpaid jobs, but I am proud to be building a stronger society through my service. For a "Stay at home Mom" I really am not home much!
~Pam (Steph's friend)
The ideal would really be to have a work environment that supports families so that parents don't have to feel like they need to choose between a career and raising their kids. There are a lot of ways that could be done, and some have already been mentioned: equal pay for men and women; more paid leave for both fathers and mothers when children are born; a work environment that allows more flexible work schedules for parents, such as more part-time, 3/4 time, flexible shifts, telecommuting, etc.; an option to choose benefits for staying home with your kids instead of only benefits for childcare. Along those lines, how about universal healthcare for children, even if not for adults? That would be an enormous support for families. I guess we have Bush to thank for vetoing that one.
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