Tag: pay equity

Three months and two days. That’s how much longer women had to work to earn the same as their male counterparts did in 2018. So on April 2, women around the country, including dozens in Rochester, demonstrated to bring awareness to the pay gap that exists between men and woman.

Representatives from the National Organization for Women, the American Association of University Women, Ibero-American Action League, League of Women Voters and more joined Rochester women and men Tuesday at Workers United to rally against inequity and in favor of legislation to close the gap.

“It is time to dig deeper, to push for solutions and ensure that all women in New York have equal pay,” said Rochester councilmember Jacklyn Ortiz to dozens of individuals who showed up wearing green and carrying signs declaring “Equal Pay for Equal Work.”

When New York’s state budget passed on Sunday, elected officials opted not to include legislation banning the usage of salary history and implementing equal pay for work of equivalent value, Ortiz noted. But, she said, “we will continue to fight” to pass Senate bill 3692A and Assembly bill 5308, bipartisan bills prohibiting employers from seeking salary history.

“If we really want to achieve true equal pay for equal work, it’s going to take all of us working together to raise awareness and to keep this issue in the forefront,” said Daniele Lyman-Torres, commissioner of the Department of Recreation and Youth Services for the City of Rochester. “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.’ We have to ascend the stairs we cannot see. The leaders before us helped build the staircase we stand on today and it is up to us to carry on building this staircase, building it right through the glass ceiling.”

The gender pay gap varies from region to region and from study to study, but most accounts show that for every one dollar a white, non-Hispanic male earns, women earn 80 cents. Women of color earn even less.

“Champions have fought long and hard for equity in pay, but it’s now time for the one to become the many,” said Gaynelle Weathers, president of the local American Association of University Women. “It is our time to address the pay gap with a chorus of voices in action. For the future, we must encourage our women to be confident, understand their value and negotiate their positions. It is our time.”

A recent study by SurveyMonkey shows that despite reports worldwide about the gender pay gap, roughly a third of men and women say there is no difference in pay by gender. And 47 percent of the survey’s respondents said that obstacles that once made it harder for women to get ahead are now largely gone.

Tuesday’s rally featured a panel of speakers including one male, Action for a Better Community’s Jerome Underwood. He said being there was one of the easiest things he has ever had to do.

“Why? Because I have a belly button,” Underwood said. “I have a mother. I have a wife of 29 years. I have a daughter. I have two sisters. To me it’s a matter of justice. Unequal pay is serious injustice to my mother, my wife, my sisters.”

Underwood said a lot of the inequity is on men.

“Because some of us are signing those checks that are inequitable,” he said. “We need to check ourselves. I want to ask the men in this room to talk to every other man that they know and tell them to fix this. You know why? Because (women are) worth every dollar.”

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