Bend AAUW to mark Equal Pay Day April 10
Equal Pay Day, Tuesday, April 10, is the symbolic day when women’s earnings finally catch up to men’s earnings from the previous year. Thanks to the gender pay gap, it takes women an extra 3 1/2 months of wages to make up the difference.
Celebrating the Oregon Equal Pay Act, and the beginning of the end of the pay gap, The American Association of University Women (AAUW) is partnering with women-owned business, Sparrow Bakery sy Northwest Crossing, which will offer $1 off on coffee all day, and the group will provide information on the Act, which passed in 2017. Though the Act is nearly a year old, many people are unaware of its passage and its benefits. Stop by Sparrow Bakery on April 10 th to take advantage of their offer, while you learn about this important legislation.
For over a hundred years, the American Association of University Women has been working towards equity in the workplace. – Equal Pay for Equal Work. Working with a bipartisan group of legislators, AAUW helped get the Oregon Equal Pay Act passed last year. The law states that y ou have a right, as an employee, to equal pay for equal work. While the full law goes into effect in 2019, one important piece went into effect last October 2017 – you cannot be asked to give your salary history when applying for a job. In other words, the salary should be set by the value of a job to the employer, not by what the candidates have made in the past.
In Oregon, an employer may not:
— Pay you less because of your gender, race, color, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, age, disability or veteran status. This includes fringe benefits;
— Pay your coworker more for the same job unless the entire pay gap is based on one or more of these conditions: seniority, merit, quantity of production, education, training, experience, workplace location and travel;
— Ask a potential new hire how much he or she is currently paid or has been paid in the past . It is only when an employer makes a job offer that includes a payment amount that the employer can ask for wage history; and
— Cut your pay to follow this law or retaliate against you for asking for equal pay.
While this law may be viewed as a tremendous breakthrough for women, it is actually a breakthrough for all – men, women, young and old. Because women have been paid less for the same work in the past, their lifetime earnings have suffered, as have their Social Security wages, and salary related benefits, as well as their abilities to help support their families.
According to The Shriver Center website, “The inequality girls and women face over their lifetimes accumulates, resulting in high poverty rates for older women. Although women experience higher rates of poverty than men at almost every point in their lifetimes, by 3.8% on average, the gap swells substantially for women age 65 and older. The rate for women 65 and older is 4.7% higher than that for men of the same age. Once women reach 75 years of age, the gap is as large as 7.1% . . . Among Americans 65 and older, almost twice as many women as men live in poverty.”
Find out how the law applies to you. Share the information about the act among your friends, family and co-workers. You may change someone’s life by encouraging others to learn about the law. More information about the act can be found at https://bend-or.aauw.net/public-policy/ .
The American Association of University Women, Bend Branch, meets monthly during the school year, with program topics of interest to those who support equity for women and girls, whether in education or the workplace. The group also offers a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) camp for 8 th grade girls, Tech Trek, at OSU Cascades Campus in late June and works with Girl Scouts in a STEM workshop day. Nationally and statewide, the group works to help pass such legislation as the Oregon Equal Pay Act, offers workshops on negotiating fair pay, advocates for equity in education, and carries out research in the gender equity and educational arenas.
The American Association of University Women empowers women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research. Our nonpartisan, nonprofit organization has more than 150,000 members and supporters across the United States. Since AAUW’s founding in 1881, our members have examined and taken positions on the fundamental issues of the day — educational, social, economic, and political. Learn more and join us at www.aauw.org .
