Strengthening America’s Values and the Economy For All
Strengthening America’s Values and Economy For All is a new campaign to SAVE low- and moderate-income people from loss of economic security due to threatened severe cuts in federal funding, and to SAVE the federal capacity to spur economic recovery and progress for the benefit of all.
Since 1981, CHN has played a vital role in bringing human needs organizations together to expand and defend federal investments in health care, income assistance, education and training, housing, and other services for young and old. Knowledge is power, and CHN is a reliable source of essential information, presented in a straightforward manner, to enable advocates to be more effective. CHN is proud to join with advocates nationwide in the fight for low-income and vulnerable people and to make Congress respond to human need.—Coalition on Human Needs
To learn more about this campaign, visit the SAVE for All Campaign page on the website for the Coalition on Human Needs at http://www.chn.org.
Source: Coalition on Human Needs
Photocredit: Microsoft Clip Art
Equal Pay Act
Today is Equal Pay Day, the day that marks how much longer working women need to work to catch up to their male counterparts’ income from the previous year. Data indicates that working women in the United States are paid an average of eighty (80) cents for every dollar paid to men. Because women earn less, on average, than men, they must work longer for the same amount of pay.
The pay gap is even larger for most women of color; on average, black women earn about seventy (70) cents, and Latinas about sixty (60) cents, of every dollar paid to all men. In 1996, Equal Pay Day was established by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) as a public awareness event to illustrate the gap between men’s and women’s wages. For the past thirty-one (31) years, the National Committee on Pay Equity has been working diligently to eliminate sex- and race-based wage discrimination and to achieve pay equity.
In 1979, the National Committee on Pay Equity was founded as a coalition of women’s and civil rights organizations; labor unions; religious, professional, legal, and educational associations, commissions on women, state and local pay equity coalitions and individuals working to eliminate sex- and race-based wage discrimination and to achieve pay equity.
Today, 9 to 5 shared that a woman has had to work an extra three months this year to match a man’s income in 2010. As we think about the work women have done for equal wages, help is needed in the fight for the next step toward pay equity.
In its action alert, 9 to 5 reminds us of the continuing problem of sex- and race-based wage discrimination and the need to achieve pay equity. The alert reads as follows:
When the Equal Pay Act passed nearly 50 years ago, a woman earned an average of 59 cents for every dollar a man made. Today, she makes 77 cents. The annual gap between men and women’s median annual wages is a staggering $10,849. With more and more families relying on women’s wages to support them in an ailing economy, shortchanging women nearly $11,000 a year is inexcusable.
Solution:
The Paycheck Fairness Act is an important step in the continuing struggle for women’s rights. Blocked in the Senate in 2010, when a minority of Senators prevented the bill from moving forward, the Act will be reintroduced by members of Congress this month.
The Paycheck Fairness Act would take several steps towards closing the wage gap, including: clarifying acceptable reasons for differences in pay between men and women; prohibiting retaliation against workers who inquire about or disclose information about employers’ wage policies and their pay rates; making it easier to file class action lawsuits based on equal pay; and requiring the EEOC to survey current pay data and obliging employers to submit pay data identified by race, sex and national origin of employees.
Action Needed:
Help 9 to 5 and other advocacy organizations to make this very necessary change: Contact your U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative and urge them to support and sign on to the Paycheck Fairness Act as it is reintroduced this year. Women have waited too long for equal wages. We, as a nation, cannot afford to wait any longer.—9 to 5
Sources: 9 to 5. The National Committee on Pay Equity. The Paycheck Fairness Act. Photo Credit: Microsoft Clip Art
National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s 2011 Sexual Assault Awareness Month Campaign: It’s Time…to Get Involved.
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center has announced it’s first in a series of online forums that will focus on supporting the xCHANGE of information between advocates, prevention educators, and researchers. The forums are free. In order to participate in the forum, you must establish a user account at nsvrc.org.
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s first xCHANGE Forum will feature Dr. Victoria Banyard as the moderator on a discussion on bystander intervention. This event is scheduled for Tuesday, April 12 from 2:30-3:30 PM Eastern. There will be a live real time xCHANGE of information on the effectiveness of bystander intervention approaches. Bystander intervention serves as the central theme and approach in the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s 2011 Sexual Assault Awareness Month Campaign: It’s Time…to Get Involved.
The announcement for this event indicates that if you cannot participate on April 12th perhaps you can participate in the continued discussion on bystander intervention that will occur through April 15th. This exchange will not be a real time discussion but the forum will be open for questions, responses and comments; responses will be posted daily.
For further information, please contact Jenn Benner at jbenner@nsvrc.org or call 877.739.3895 Toll Free.
Source: The National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
Photo Credit: Microsoft Clip Art
