EQUAL PAY NOW!
Equal Pay Day was originated by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) in 1996 as a public awareness event to illustrate the gap between men's and women's wages. They have selected a Tuesday in April as Equal Pay Day. Tuesday was selected to represent how far into the work week women must work to earn what men earned the previous week. Because women earn less, on average, than men, they must work longer for the same amount of pay. The wage gap in the US for women continues today and women currently only earn 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. The wage gap is even greater for most women of color.
The Office of Women’s Policy co-chairs the local Coalition for Equal Pay. Since 1999, activities of the Coalition for Equal Pay have included community groups, women's groups, labor unions and the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, the Santa Clara County Commission on the Status of Women, and concerned individuals, primarily in Santa Clara County (CA). Each year, the Coalition sponsors an Equal Pay Day “Cookie Project” where high schools throughout Santa Clara County and other parts of the Bay area implement a high school curriculum to raise awareness about the issue of equal pay, engage students in discussion and educational activities and provide information and materials so that they can initiate activities on their campuses and in their communities. This effort has been highly successful and has reached thousands of students in area schools. During 2011, the Coalition, with support from the U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau - Region IX, has developed an Equal Pay Day Resource Kit which is being disseminated to 200 sites throughout Santa Clara County, the California Bay area and beyond!
For more information about the Coalition for Equal Pay, click here. http://www.equalpay.info
For more information about the National Committee on pay Equity, click here. http://www.pay-equity.org