An action Alert from Atima Omara-Alwala, National Chair, Women' s Caucus
Young Democrats of America
April 22nd, 2008 is Pay Equity Day!
Currently, women earn 77 cents to the dollar, over a working lifetime, this wage disparity costs the average American woman and her family an estimated $700,000 to $2 million, impacting Social Security benefits and pensions.
In 1996, Equal Pay Day was created by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) as a way to raise awareness about the gap between men's and women's wages. The day, observed on a Tuesday in April, symbolizes how far into the year a woman must work, on average, to earn as much as a man earned the previous year. (Tuesday is the day on which women's wages catch up to men's wages from the previous week.) Because women earn less, on average, than men, they must work longer for the same amount of pay. The wage gap is even greater for most women of color.
As Young Democrats we are well positioned to make a difference in our communities.
Visit www.yda.org/payequity2008 to get a one pager of what you can do in your Young Democrat local chapters and/or your Women's Caucuses, to raise awareness and take action around an issue important to us all.
From NBC’s Ken Strickland
Clinton and Obama will return to the Senate tomorrow to vote on a bill challenging a Supreme Court ruling on equal pay.
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in Ledbetter vs Goodyear that lawsuits claiming pay discrimination had to follow Equal Employment Opportunity Commission procedures and be filed within 180 days of when the employer first gave Ms. Ledbetter her check. The legislation would allow the 180-day-clock to run each time a paycheck is received.
Tomorrow’s vote is only procedural, requiring 60 votes to advance the bill. It’s unlikely supporters will muster that many votes, let alone the 67 needed to overcome the president’s veto threat.
The timing of the vote is unknown, but hope to have a better sense of things later this afternoon.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/