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Economic Equity News: August 31, 2015

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.

CCTV America’s Philip Yin interviewed Lisa Maatz, vice president of government relations at the American Association of University Women, about the role that educating women plays in improving the economic situation of communities, families, and countries — particularly developing nations.

On Women’s Equality Day Eric Garcetti, the Mayor of Los Angeles, signed a progressive and inclusive executive directive to take a major step toward gender equity for the city and to be a model for other cities. As one of the first cities to pass (CEDAW), Garcetti announced Los Angeles“must be a model for its implementation.”

The first step in fixing the gender-based pay gap problem was to admit that it’s a problem. Now that we (mostly) agree on that idea, companies are looking more closely at employee compensation levels — something that has only recently started happening, despite the fact that we’ve been talking about the pay gap for decades.

Image-sharing site Pinterest is the latest in a handful of tech companies to announce a review of employee compensation data, according to theHuffington Post.

“Most dolls are promoting princesses and ponies,” he said. “If we can get girls at a young age — between 6 and 10 — excited about STEM, they will feel more comfortable later on taking engineering and science and math courses.

For any women looking to come in, Victoria says “you have to be strong, be bold, be determined and believe in yourself. Believing in yourself will make them believe in you. Be persistent, in what you want, don’t take no for an answer and know there are other avenues to help you achieve your goals.

To support women in non-traditional and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) careers, and to increase wages for so called “women’s work” join us September 8, 2015 from 2-3PM for our online rally. Show your support by using the hashtag, #HonorWomensWork on both Facebook and Twitter platforms. Become a partner in this rally by emailing info@powherny.org.

 


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.