Tag Archives: equal pay

Today’s Lady News: It’s Equal Pay Day

Jessica WakemanApril 12, 2011 //
  • It’s Equal Pay Day! Here’s your friendly reminder that women earn 77 cents to every dollar a man earns. When race is factored in, the numbers get even more depressing: African-American women earn 62 cents and Latinas earn 53 cents for every dollar earned by a white dude. [Feministing]
  • Can you take more bad news? Over a 40-year career, women will make roughly $700,000 less than their male counterparts. The Week has figured out how it all adds up. [The Week]
  • A Texas Senate committee has advanced a “compromise” bill which requires a woman seeking an abortion to be given a sonogram, listen to the fetal heartbeat, and listen to a detailed description of a fetus. (Texas’ Senate and House had both passed versions of the bill before, but the House version was more strict and scary. This latest bill in the Senate is a “compromise” because it exempts women who have been victims of rape or incest.) Gov. Rick Perry, who doesn’t support legal abortion, is expected to sign the bill when it reaches his desk. [Houston Chronicle]

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Q&A With Lilly Ledbetter

Jessica WakemanNovember 22, 2010 //

Lilly Ledbetter is living history

Goodyear Tire Company in Alabama

Don’t you just love when you meet a feisty old granny? Keep reading »

Sorry, Ladies, The Paycheck Fairness Act Is Dunzo

Jessica WakemanNovember 17, 2010 //

Sorry, ladies, but the Paycheck Fairness Act is no more. Senate Republicans filibustered the bill and Senate Democrats fell two votes short of the 60 needed to put it to an up-or-down vote.

Generally speaking, the Paycheck Fairness Act, which passed in the House of Representatives in 2009, would have made it easier to seek damages over pay discrimination based on gender. The Paycheck Fairness Act also would have ensured employees aren’t retaliated against for seeking out info about what their colleagues get in their paychecks and would have created a new grant program to strengthen negotiation skills in girls and women.

Alas, it was not meant to be. Keep reading »

Frisky Q&A: Sally Hawkins Of “Made In Dagenham”

Jessica WakemanNovember 17, 2010 //

Beating Meryl Streep for a 2009 Best Actress Golden Globe is no small feat. After watching actress Sally Hawkins in her latest film, “Made In Dagenham,” I now fully understand her talent. In the movie, which is based on a true story, Sally plays a working-class woman in 1968 Britain who sews car seat upholstery at the Ford Motor Company factory. Her fictional character leads a strike of women workers against Ford until they agree to pay the women equal wages to male workers. The strike made history because it led the British government to enact equal pay legislation into law.

After a recent screening of “Made In Dagenham,” I briefly chatted with the soft-spoken, almost shy Sally Hawkins about the film: Keep reading »

Man Stands Up For Women’s Rights, Gets Rewarded

SimchaNovember 14, 2008 //

It’s shocking, that even in the 21st Century, women can be paid less than men for the same job, but that’s just what was happening at the private Lake Ridge Academy in Cleveland, Ohio. Well, until James Whiteman bravely stood up for equal rights, that is! As the head of the lower school, Mr. Whiteman courageously voiced his concerns over the chauvinist disparity in the salaries between his male and female co-workers. After complaining, he promptly fired. “[Mr. Whiteman] had nothing to gain and everything to lose by standing up for female teachers that were afraid to do it themselves,” Gregory Gordillo, his attorney, told Metro. Yet, after a dozen years of dedicated service, he was kicked to the curb for smack talking the sexist system. But this week, two years after his termination, justice was finally served! A jury awarded the former administrator $950,000 for wrongful termination. Ha! And they thought skimping on their female teachers salaries was saving them money. [Cleveland.com] Keep reading »