Cyndi Lauper's 'Girls Just Want Equal Funds' Is the Feminist Anthem You Need
Yaaas! 💕💰
“I come home, in the morning light my mother says ‘why don’t you make the same as a guy.
Oh mama, dear, we’re not the fortunate ones, ’cause girls, they want equal funds.”
What gives? It’s called the “motherhood penalty,” and it’s a persistent problem for all women, not just mothers, working in America.
Mothers typically are paid only 73 cents for every dollar fathers are paid. Wait, it gets worse. After becoming fathers, men see a 6 percent *increase* in earnings — even after controlling for factors such as hours worked and marital status — while new mothers see a 4 percent *decrease* per child.
Sound fair? We didn’t think so.
Chris Rock: If Jennifer Lawrence Were Black, 'She'd Really Have Something To Complain About'
Chris Rocks hits on an important fact: The gender pay gap affects all women, but it doesn’t affect all women equally.
Black women were paid 63 percent of what non-Hispanic white men were paid in 2014. That means it takes the typical black woman nearly seven extra months to be paid what the average white man took home back on December 31. That’s even worse than the national pay gap for women of all races, 79 percent, as reported by AAUW’s research.
Think about how that adds up in the course of a career, and we’re talking about losing a daunting chunk of change over a lifetime.
Humans Will Probably Walk on Mars Before Women Get Equal Pay
Here are just some of the things we might have before women achieve equal pay: flying cars, long walks on Mars, teleportation, hoverboards, household robots. Houston, we have a problem.
Based on two different projections — the pace of change since the 1960s and the pace of change in the past decade — women won’t see equal pay until 2059 or 2276, respectively. That’s because progress in closing the gender pay gap has stalled in recent years. The result? It could be more than 250 years, or nearly three generations, until women get fair pay.
There’s a problem when futuristic wish lists become more realistic than the prospect of equity. You can help close the pay gap by donating to AAUW this #GivingTuesday.
Altogether, the gender pay gap costs a typical woman at least $400,000 over the course of her career. That’s no small chunk of change. Because of the pay gap, women are more likely than men to live in poverty, struggle with the burden of student debt, and experience economic insecurity in retirement. The harm caused by pay inequity runs deep, especially given that women make up a record 40 percent of U.S. breadwinners.
According to AAUW’s latest research, women working full time, year round are paid only 79 cents for every dollar men are paid. The pay gap is even worse for mothers and women of color. African American women are typically paid just 63 percent of what white men are paid. Hispanic and Latina women face the largest gap, making 54 percent of white men’s earnings. For these women, it’s arguably more likely that their grandchildren will live with robots or walk on Mars than have fair pay.
For ourselves and our children, it’s time to pick up the pace in the fight for fair pay.
Founded in 1881, AAUW has been studying the gender pay gap since 1894, when we first analyzed the pay of college-educated women. Through the years, we’ve continued to conduct groundbreaking research on pay equity as well as advocate for policy and legislative action to close the pay gap. AAUW members were in the room when President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law in 1963. More recently, AAUW members worked tirelessly to help pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which was signed into law in 2009. It was a start, but the pay gap remains. And as trends show, it’s sticking around — that is, unless we act.
Equal pay shouldn’t be a dream for our great, great, great granddaughters. Agree? Lend a hand this #GivingTuesday!
Luckily, there are many things employers, individuals, and governments can do to help speed up the process, including supporting AAUW.When it comes to policy, we must continue to advocate for strong pay equity legislation, including the long-stalled Paycheck Fairness Act, as well as encourage employers to support flexible work schedules and conduct job audits to ensure fairness. AAUW also educates the public about the harm of the pay gap, and we hold national workshops to empower women to hone their salary negotiation skills. In September, we announced a collaboration with Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh and the Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement to bring AAUW’s Work Smart salary negotiation workshop to half the working women in Bostonover the next five years. These efforts are critical elements as we work to close the gender pay gap.
It’s been an uphill battle, but progress has occurred. We’ve made strides since the 1930s, when the federal government actually required that its female workers be paid 25 percent less than male workers in the same jobs. Back then, American women likely felt that the prospect of receiving a paycheck equal to a man’s was the stuff of science fiction. But groups like AAUW have helped lead the charge in policy and cultural shifts. Today, we have the power to make fair pay a reality — if we all take action and chip in.
Buckle up those jet packs. Equal pay, here we come.
A Timely Reminder This Thanksgiving - Native Women Have to Work 9 Extra Months to Make the Same Salary as White Men Made Last Year
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: There’s a pay gap between women and men, and that gap is even wider for women of color. But here are a few facts you might not have heard before: American Indian and Alaska Native women are paid just 59 cents for every dollar white men are paid. For Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, that number is 62 cents.
Native women are a notoriously understudied group. According to Catherine Hill, AAUW vice president of research, the relatively small size of their population is at least partially responsible for the lack of information. American Indians and Alaska Natives make up just 2 percent of the U.S. population, about 5.2 million men and women. There are just 1.4 million natives of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. In contrast, there are 200.9 million people in the white population and 45 million in the black or African American population.
The lack of data means that, for now, we can’t definitively say what is causing this gap, but we can hedge a few guesses. Native people face disproportionate rates of unemployment, poverty, and violence, as well as limited access to education, and women tend to bear the brunt of discrimination. Yes, there’s a pay gap between native men (who are underpaid) and native women.
There is some good news. Native American women are now going to college and holding jobs at higher rates than ever before, and we know that education and good jobs help increase earnings — though they don’t eliminate the wage gap. So for now, we’ll mark September 8, and keep agitating for some real change.
Read more → bit.ly/nativewomenpay
Help close the gender pay gap→ bit.ly/AAUWgive
Our #TheReal10 campaign is calling out the gender pay gap. And the fact that it’s worse for women of color.
The U.S. Treasury has announced that the new $10 bill will have a woman on it. But there’s still a significant pay gap between men and women, and we want more than just symbolic change.
You Can Put Your Face on the New $10 Bill
#TheNew10 will feature a woman. But there’s still a significant pay gap between men and women. Visit TheReal10.org and see what #TheReal10 looks like for you.
Who needs ghost stories? There’s nothing scarier than the gender pay gap.
As AAUW’s research shows, women of all walks of life experience the gender pay gap, and it’s even worse for women of color. At 63 cents to the dollar, that earnings ratio means it takes the typical black woman nearly seven extra months to be paid what the average white man took home back on December 31. Hispanic and Latina women face the worst pay disparity, getting paid only 54 percent of what white men get paid.
Read the full blog.
Even Superstars Aren’t Safe from the Gender Pay Gap: An Open Letter to Jennifer Lawrence
When Jennifer Lawrence wrote about her experience with the gender pay gap earlier this week, she added that she wasn’t “exactly relatable.” Sure, she has an Oscar and a few other awards under her belt. But when it comes to the gender pay gap, her problems are all too relatable.
Here’s what Jennifer totally nailed when it comes to women, salary negotiation, and fair pay.
- Workplace gender stereotypes play into why women don’t negotiate as often as men.
-
It’s important that women feel empowered to negotiate for equal pay, but the real onus is on employers and policy makers.
-
Bottom line: Every woman deserves equal pay.
How would you like to have your paycheck cut in half? That’s the case for many Latina women in the United States.
Today is #LatinaEqualPay Day, the symbolic day when Latina’s earnings “catch up” to men’s earnings from the previous year.
Thanks to the gender pay gap, Latinas are paid 54 percent of what non-Hispanic white men are paid. That means it takes Latinas almost an entire extra year of full-time, year-round work in order to be paid what the average white man took home by December 31. Think about how that adds up over a lifetime, and we’re talking about losing a substantial chunk of change — change that could have greatly aided Latinas and their families.
Read the full blog post.
GOP candidates revealed which women they'd put on the $10 bill — and some of their answers were absurd
So, it seems many of the Republican presidential candidates need to add a lesson in American women’s history…#fail.
After being asked which woman they would put on the new $10 bill during the CNN debate Wednesday, many candidates decided against traditional and contemporary American heroines, opting instead for family members or women from foreign countries.
The “light-hearted” segment revealed the hard truth: many candidates vying for the white house had trouble appealing to the collective consciousness of women in homes across the nation.
The GOP candidates have spoken, now let your voice be heard…
→ Who do you think should be the face of the new $10 bill? Vote now!
Happy 80th Birthday, Social Security!
Can You Pass Our Social Security Quiz?
For 80 years, Social Security has been our nation’s most successful anti-poverty program. Yet few people realize the crucial role that the program plays for women. Test your knowledge! Guess whether each statement below is true or false, and then read our blog to learn the facts.
- Nearly 60 percent of people receiving Social Security benefits are women.
-
Social Security is especially critical to women because of the gender pay gap.
-
The program supports millions of older women — more than half of whom would fall into poverty without it.
-
Although Social Security needs reform, the program isn’t broken beyond repair.
Get the answers.
Watch: Is this really what equality looks like?
Putting a woman on the $10 bill is supposed to symbolize the gains our nation has made when it comes to gender equity. And while symbolism is important, we simply can’t let it stop there. AAUW is putting out the call for Americans to join the fight for fair pay.
Join us in demanding more than just symbolic change with #TheNew10!
Learn more at fightforfairpay.org.(via micdotcom)
Source: mic.com
... But will it be worth 22% less?
Did you know that in 2013, women working full time in the United States typically were paid just 78 percent of what men were paid, a gap of 22 percent?
The gender pay gap is math; not myth:
- The pay gap has barely budged in a decade.
- Women in every state experience the pay gap, but some states are worse than others.
- The pay gap is worse for women of color.
- Women face a pay gap in nearly every occupation.
- The pay gap grows with age.
Source: amprog