Fair Pay for Women: Ideas and Resources
December 16, 2008
by Beverly Cooper Neufeld
|Beverly Cooper Neufeld is the Vice President of New York Women’s Agenda and Coordinator of the Equal Pay Coalition NYC. On Monday, December 15, she was the special guest on Chewing the Fat with Ophelia.
Following up on last night’s Chewing the Fat with Ophelia conversation about fair pay, I promised some resources, books, and ideas for how you and we can make a difference. There is so much we can do individually and collectively to create lasting solutions to the very real inequities that still exist for women and people of color in the workplace today. Some are listed below, but please share your own ideas too.
Women are not only being underpaid and undervalued, but also underutilized. America’s women are a precious untapped resource our country needs now, especially in these difficult times.
Please share your questions or comments. I’d love to continue our dialogue!
ACTIVITIES TO MAKE A CHANGE:
- Help pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Fair Pay Act & Paycheck Fairness Act: Check out the National Women’s Law Center for the background info and the latest activities.
- Start a WAGE Club: A WAGE Club allows a small group of women to meet regularly and have a series of discussions and strategy sessions to discuss money, negotiations skills and what to do if they are being paid unfairly.
- Support women’s efforts to enter non-traditional fields: An idea we floated on Ophelia was creating support groups or mentoring relationships to help women break into professions that are male dominated….and better paid!
- Conduct a workplace pay audit
- Calculate your wage gap
- Organize a College $mart $starts Workshop
- Start a group like the Equal Pay Coalition NYC in your area
- Learn more at New York Women’s Agenda
BOOKS:
- Taking on the Big Boys by Ellen Bravo, 2007
- Women Are Getting Even by Evelyn Murphy, 2006
- Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, 2008
- Opting Out: Why Women Really Leave Careers and Head Home by Pamela Stone, 2008
- Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, 2001
RESEARCH:
- AAUW – Beyond the Gender Gap
- Institute for Women’s Policy Research – Best and Worst States
- Economic Status on Women in NY – NY Women’s Foundation, 2008
ORGANIZATIONS:
Before I was a consultant, before I was a waterproofer, before I was a bartender, book-seller and all, I was a CETA jobs counselor. Thank you for last night’s blog talk. I must say I felt as though I was listening to chords on an old, old guitar, left in the corner for thirty years and just now brought out to play. Hopefully, with you and your group, as inheritor of this instrument, the song will reach a new height.
I hate it too when the establishment calls women whiners. I was enraged when Obama inferred it of Clinton. It’s just another case of name-calling. It must be smashed with all the verbal jujitsu we have. If we don’t do that we do allow others to define us.
Picking our battles is one thing. Letting others, like Carville and his recent remarks, define us is another. Just like Carville’s those zingers will linger and grow.
This thread is outstanding. Thank you for listing all of those resources!
This is a fantastic organization in Pasadena, California called Women at Work. I remember them from years ago and had thought they had lost funding and no longer existed. But I was thrilled to see they are still up and running after I did a search on line:
http://www.womenatwork1.org/
Thank you for the post. I don’t really know how feminist NOW is… the group ignored all the sexism and supported Obama throughout the entire election. Then, once he was elected, NOW bemoaned the sexism.
[...] Beverly Neufeld, who was on Chewing the Fat with Ophelia on Monday night to speak about Fair Pay (see Goals), invited The New Agenda to sign on to a letter to the Obama Transition Team regarding job creation for women. [...]
[...] Take a look at the fair pay debate conservative blogger and former Lucas County Commissioner Maggie Thurber and I had this month. With fair pay legislation being listed as the number one goal for The New Agenda, I’m not quite sure how to interpret their efforts. Here’s the goal statement: 1. Enacting Fair Pay Legislation Following passage of the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act by the House of Representatives (H.R. 2831), Senate Republicans in April 2008 blocked passage of the Act, which would have extended the statute of limitations for women and others alleging discrimination to sue their employers for discrimination in the workplace. The Ledbetter Act or similar legislation must be passed, along with legislation mandating equal pay for equal work. (See Fair Pay for Women: Ideas and Resources) [...]
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