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.
Women’s Equality Advances in New York via A Better Balance
Women in New York are about to gain some significant rights under state law. Just this session, the legislature acted on measures to strengthen equal pay and sexual harassment protections in the workplace, guarantee reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers, assist victims of domestic violence filing temporary restraining orders, and combat human trafficking. Join us to learn about these new laws and how they may impact you and your community.
325,000 New York public employees make under $15 an hour via Times Union
Given the fight for $15 an hour for fast-food workers, State Worker asked the Fiscal Policy Institute for figures on how many public employees in New York state make under $15. It’s 325,000. James Parrott, an economist for FPI, said that the 325,000 include all public employees — federal, state and local, as well as full and part-time workers.
Brooklyn Bar charges women 77% of tab to draw attention to gender pay gap via PalmBeachPost.com
Bars all over the world run various promotions – happy hour, $1 off, two-for-one. But how about charging 77 percent of the tab?
On Tuesday, The Way Station in Brooklyn, New York, charged women 77 percent of their bar tab in an effort to draw attention to the gender pay gap.
Women’s World Cup-winning soccer team ‘short-changed’ with unfair pay via The Daily News
Rep. Carolyn Maloney doubled down on her efforts to demand equal pay for women, using the world champion U.S. women’s soccer team as an example. “Women are being short-changed in soccer,” Maloney said on John Catsimatidis’ Sunday morning “Cats Roundtable” radio show on AM 970. “We need to step up and work for equal pay.
Today’s work pressures harm both men and women via the Washington Post
Women aren’t dumb. They want jobs that deliver pay, respect and passion. When they drop out or cut back, often they just don’t want to force themselves into the too-tight shoes that men hobble around in. At any rate, that’s what my colleague Lisa Kassenaar discovered at Bloomberg News a couple of years back when we investigated what was keeping women out of the first level of management. We found a group of stressed men growing increasingly frantic about dawn-to-midnight responsibilities. This wasn’t a job that women wanted to join — but it was a job that men increasingly wanted to escape. I’m doing this for my kids’ future, one man told us, but I’m worried that in the future they won’t have a dad.
U.S. Navy Increases Maternity Leave to 4.5 Paid Months Off via Jezebel
The U.S. Navy is tripling the amount of maternity leave female sailors and Marines can take, bumping paid time off from six weeks to 18 weeks. According to the Associated Press, this move, spearheaded by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, makes the Navy the first U.S. military service to offer more than the standard six weeks. According to Navy figures, approximately 5,000 women would be eligible per year.
Donna Seymour, who hales 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 Universality Women), she also is a member the League of Women Voters, the Equal Pay Coalition, PTA, NOW, and Planned Parenthood, just to name a few.