77¢ or $1: Your gender dictates the price.
Why should gender dictate the cost of this cookie asks The American Association of University Women? Is that fair – is that equity? “He” and “She” each have a position with the same responsibilities. “He” and “She” each have the same education and work experience.
“He” and “She” each have worked for the same employer for the past four years. “He” and “She” each get positive annuals reviews. “He” and “She” are each asked and involved in community activities to provide company visibility within the community. “He” and “She” each live in a community with the same economic and social profiles, resulting in the same cost of living. BUT, “He” and “She” do not earn the same money. What “He” earns in 365 days, “She” earns in 463 days.
Why? It isn’t equitable but “She” will be working until April 8, 2014, to earn the same amount that he earned by December 31, 2013. Each year “She” gets further and further behind. Will she ever get caught up? NO! Unless all people receive equal pay for equitable work at the beginning of their work career, the chance of “catching up” is very unlikely.
Since a woman makes 77¢ for every $1 a man earns, the American Association of University Women (AAUW) will be selling cookies at an equitable price based on gender April 8 from 11am-1pm at COCC, OSU Cascades and Bellatazzi on Wall Street in downtown Bend. Want some fresh coffee for cookies you buy for home? Bellatazzi offers it for $11.55 a pound for a woman and $15 for a man. They want to be fair, too!
“There’s a gap here that can’t be explained away by women’s choices. AAUW hopes through research and advocacy we can help employers understand the problem and implement measures to pay workers fair and honest wages,” Catherine Hill, AAUW’s research director.
To receive more information on pay equity, contact Evie Lamb at 541-678-5964.
The American Association of University Women (AAUW) empowers women and girls through advocacy, education philanthropy, and research. Our non-partisan, nonprofit organization has more then 165,000 members and supporters across the United States, as well as 1,000 local branches and 800 college and university partners. Since AAUW’s founding in 1881, our members have examined and taken positions on the fundamental issues of the day – educational, social, economic and political.
Learn more at www.aauw.org.
