Economic equity news is a weekly round-up of articles by Donna Seymour of AAUW-NYS that features our core values of poverty solutions, opportunity and access, workplace fairness, healthy lives, equal pay and representation at all tables. Sign up for our mailing list to receive this directly to your inbox.
In 2015, female candidates for state legislative seats are just as likely to win as their male competitors. The challenge is getting them to run. A quarter of the nation’s state legislators are women, according to a new survey of the composition of the nation’s 50 state legislatures by Stateline and the National Conference of State Legislatures. That’s up dramatically from the 5 percent figure of the early 1970s. But the percentage hasn’t budged much in more than a decade, prompting many to question what can be done to encourage more women to seek state elective office.
- NY Women in Politics Talk Gains, Struggles in Breaking Glass Ceiling via Long Island Press
When the Working Families Party first approached Zephyr Teachout about throwing her hat in the ring to challenge New York’s formidable Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary last year, her immediate reaction was, “How dare I?” This emotional response is the typical reaction many women have to overcome as they summon the courage necessary to fight their way into the boys’ club that is New York government—where women make up only 11 percent of the State Senate and just 20 percent of the Assembly, and where no woman has ever held the position of governor, attorney general or comptroller. Locally, the Nassau County Legislature boasts nine women among its 19 members and is led by Presiding Officer Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow), but just five of 18 members of the Suffolk County Legislature are women.
On Dec. 3, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced his intention to open up all military occupations to women. The military isn’t typically thought of as leading the charge for women’s equality, but in at least one way it is. There is no pay gender gap, even if there are fewer women: at every rank, men and women are paid equally.
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Abby wants to change world, garner equal pay for women via the Democrat and Chronicle
Six weeks after announcing she’ll retire from soccer, the most prolific goal-scorer in soccer history says she has figured out what’s next for her. Abby Wambach changed soccer, now the Pittsford native wants to change the world. She wants women to be paid like men.
The documentary Zero Weeks is going to be a great tool in our fight for paid leave. Right now it’s up for Indie Wire project of the week.
Zero Weeks: The United States is the only developed nation without paid family leave. This documentary will help change that. It’s about time. Only 12% of American have access to paid family leave, meaning 136 million Americans struggle to accommodate the addition of a new child, the serious illness or death of a family member, or a worker’s own medical condition. Today, an injury, an illness, a new baby or an aging parent can be a trigger into poverty. “Zero Weeks,” from director Ky Dickens, explores the economic and societal consequences resulting from America’s lack of paid family leave, the benefits it would deliver to families and businesses alike, and what politicians and leaders can do to guarantee American families something more. With only 2 in 10 Americans having access to even unpaid leave, this is a crisis for the middle class, the working class and basically any American who works and loves someone else. There’s too much at stake for too many families to let our country’s outdated stance on paid leave drag on any longer.
Donna Seymour, who hails from the (far upstate) North Country of NYS, has spent 40 plus years advocating for children, women and family issues, equity, sustainability, and social justice issues. Currently serving as the Public Policy VP for AAUW-NYS (the American Association University Women), she is also a member the League of Women Voters, the Equal Pay Coalition, PTA, NOW, and Planned Parenthood, just to name a few.