April 17 is Equal Pay Day

Equal Pay Day is a public awareness event originated to illustrate the gap between men’s and women’s wages. Equal pay day this year is April 17, 2012, which symbolizes the date in 2012 to which women must work to earn the same pay that men earned in 2011. According to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau, in the U.S., women’s annual salaries average just 77% of the salaries of men working in the same professions.

Here in Utah, it’s even worse. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Utah women’s salaries average 69% of those of men. So I guess it’s not equal pay day in Utah yet.

Huh? Wasn’t the Equal Pay Act made law in 1963 – almost 50 years ago? Why is there still such a wage gap?

I found an excellent white paper on The Gender Wage Gap on the Soroptimist International of the Americas web site http://soroptimist.org/. The Gender Wage Gap clarifies that this is a worldwide issue and lists the following five causes of the ongoing disparity.

1. Occupational segregation – women are still segregated into a few low-paying jobs such as sales, clerical and service jobs.

2. Family Life / Work Balance – far more women than men choose to take parental leave to care for children, which can ultimately have a negative effect on their careers.

3. Educational Choices – while women have made significant gains in this area, in some parts of the world equality in education is still far from reality. Additionally, girls are still socialized to choose different subject areas than boys.

4. Asking for Better Jobs and Pay - a portion of the pay divide may be because women expect less and negotiate less pay for themselves than do men.

5. Sadly, the fifth cause is still discrimination. Even after all these years.

Here’s the direct link to the white paper: http://www.soroptimist.org/whitepapers/WhitePaperDocs/WPGenderWageGap.pdf

My thanks to Dayle L. Wallien, J.D., Soroptimist International of Scotts Bluff County, for her article in the Rocky Mountain Region Soroptibits on this topic. Her article included the link to the National Committee on Pay Equity web site: http://www.pay-equity.org/day.html . The banner on the site today is encouraging us to wear red “to symbolize how far women and minorities are in the red with their pay.” I’m wearing red today. Are you?

Soroptimist and Phi Theta Kappa

Phi Theta Kappa is an international honor society for Junior College students.  Membership is by invitation, and invitations are extended to full time students recognized by the faculty for their academic excellence and citizenship.  The Salt Lake Soroptimist Club agreed to pay the Phi Theta Kappa membership dues for a Horizonte Graduate.  We presented Benita the check at a regular meeting with the Horizonte Young Parents Program.

The Phi Theta Kappa chapter at Salt Lake Community College, through our own Nancy Mitchell, requested a Soroptimist to speak at the induction ceremony on April 4, 2012.  This honor fell to me.  

In my 10 minute address, I commended the students for their academic excellence, their leadership, and their service.  I encouraged them to keep striving for academic excellence because it shows caring, confidence and discipline.  I encouraged them to embrace opportunities for leadership and shared the five practices of The Leadership Challenge (Kouzes and Pozner).

• Model the Way
• Inspire a Shared Vision
• Challenge the Process
• Enable Others to Act, and
• Encourage the Heart

I encouraged them to give back through community service.  Wouldn’t it be great, I asked them, if instead of asking “What can I get from life,” everyone asked “What can I give?”

In the end, I hope I was able to impress upon them how far they can go when they consciously choose to live their dream.  Thanks to Phi Theta Kappa, Salt Lake Community College, and my good friend Nancy for this awesome opportunity.