England ahead on female pay equality

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It’s already the law in England that equal work must receive equal pay, regardless of who is doing the work, according to an item from Ms. Magazine’s Summer 2018 issue. Now, it says, British law has just declared that large companies there (250+ employees) “must publish on their websites and submit to the government a reporting of the average salaries and bonuses of the women and men employed by them, revealing any gender pay disparities.”

Map of states that have/have not ratified (Used with permission of the Alice Paul Institute, www.equalrightsamendment.org)

Wow. That’s a good start to puttin’ your money where your mouth is. At least for giant corporations. Since the U.S. hasn’t even been able to pass the Equal Rights Amendment – though happily the State of Illinois did ratify it this past May – it seems unlikely we’ll see anything like that here anytime soon.

But Britain is a powerful ally, and it’s great they are acting as a good role model. Now if we could get them to mandate that kind of transparency regarding, first, pay gaps by race, and then pay gaps by single vs. married, we could really start getting somewhere!

Happy Single Working Women’s Week and Day coming up July 29 through August 4, 2018!

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Barbara Payne, July 19th 2018 | Tags: , ,
Posted in gender bias, gender pay equity, gender prejudice, women's wages

Book review: My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem

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Just finished reading My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem at 70-something. A beautiful testament to her life – from her difficult childhood with a loving but somewhat looney, itinerant father and her lost-soul mother, to her many, many years traveling around the world writing for major outlets and organizing people in pursuit of women’s equality and reproductive freedom.

Beautiful stories of people she met, some of whom she developed very close relationships with, from the amazing Native woman who brought self-reliance and independence back to so many Native tribes that had lost their way, to the cab drivers and poor people and famous people and powerful people – including the then-pope – whose lives intersected with hers in some way, she gives the facts and reflects on their meanings in simple, fluid prose.

Another woman who fights for women's equality

Another woman who fights for women’s equality

My favorite parts are the ones where she speaks gently of her longing for a home when she was little and speaks tenderly about so many of the people she’s met and/or worked with. She has a clear eye and an open heart, and her book lets you know her in a way you never could from reading many of the often-harsh news stories about her battle for feminism and her long struggles to help make Ms. Magazine a force for good.

The book is a reflection on how a single courageous soul can create profound change by listening to people.

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Barbara Payne, August 11th 2016 | Tags: , ,
Posted in book review, connectedness, consciousness, courage, gender bias, gender pay equity, gender prejudice

Single mothers the losers in pay race

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So it’s Equal Pay Day in the U.S. Sad that we still have to have a holiday for this, but it’s a part of why we still also have to have a holiday called Single Working Women’s Week!

A New York Democrat on Congress’s Joint Economic Committee writes about the realities that women in the workplace face today. Perhaps one of the most telling statistics is the one that says women with children get paid an average of 2.5% less than women without children–and men with children get an average of 2.1% more than men without. While those percentages may seem small, the truth is every dollar counts when you’re a single mom, no matter how much you make.

It’s likely to take generations and perhaps a few small miracles to truly break down the unfair practices in pay. The “Paycheck Fairness Act” before Congress sounds like at least one more brick we can throw at the situation.

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Barbara Payne, April 24th 2007 | Posted in gender pay equity, Paycheck Fairness Act, single mothers, Single Working Women's Week