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.
Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York signed into law a measure that greatly expands protection against the inhumane and risky practice of restraining women when they are pregnant or have recently had a baby. Although New York enacted a law in 2009 to prevent the use of restraints on women during labor and childbirth, that did not put a stop to the practice. Research by the Women in Prison Project of the Correctional Association of New York found that 23 of 27 women who gave birth after the law took effect were still restrained.
- This Was The Year We Finally Started To Care About Working Parents via the Huffington Post
Finally, in 2015, policymakers and companies started to pay attention — we may some day look back and see this past year as a tipping point in the movement toward paid leave for all.
- Connections: Is Paid Leave Practical for New York State? via Connections
California has some of the strongest paid leave laws in the country. Is paid leave a practical idea for New York State? Our guests: Greg Biryla, executive director, Unshackle Upstate, Amy Collins, CEO, newshelves.com and Marisa Lagos, reporter, California politics and government desk, KQED.
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The Women in the Low-Wage Workforce May Not Be Who You Think via the National Women’s Law Center
Two-thirds of low-wage workers, who work in jobs that typically pay $10.50 per hour or less, are women. The women who make up the low-wage workforce may not be who you think. The vast majority are neither high school dropouts nor teenagers. Most don’t have a spouse’s income to rely on.
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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.