My great friends at the Women's Fund of Central Ohio posted this today on their Facebook page:

Today is Equal Pay Day. Why today? It is the day in the year when women catch up to what men made last year. Women earn .77 cents on the $1 as compared to men. Think of it this way. Every week, women have to work Monday through Friday and then Monday and Tuesday again to equal what men make Monday through Friday.

How is that after decades of being in the workforce that women lag so far behind men in pay equity? There are historical and cultural reasons. Women's work history has been one of being paid nothing for work for centuries. As we progressed through the last century, women started from a much lower salary base so we have farther to rise. As I tell my students, when you take that first job--push for the highest wages you can get. It will set you up for the rest of your life to receive the pay you deserve for the work you do.

The cultural reasons are complex, but as one boss said to me: you don't have a family to support. Really? He didn't know all the family that I do support, but because my family doesn't look like his version of family he didn't understand. Moreover, this has nothing to do with equal pay for equal work.

So here's a task for all of us today. Take a look at your salary. Ask your boss: how do I stack up to the rest of the organization? You only get what you ask for. So ask for pay equity today.

Posted by Fara at 09:59 AM | Comments (0)

What are the images that we see of African women? They are often cast as powerless victims, particularly in war-torn areas where mass rape is being used as a weapon of war. But take a few minutes to read this great article from Leymah Gbowee, the founder of Liberia's Sex Strike movement, in The Daily Beast.

Gbowee founded the "sex strike" movement as a way to raise awareness of what was happening to women in Liberia. Women declined to have sex with their partners until the violence ended. But as Gbowee says it wasn't just about sex, it was about the "moral clarity, persistence, and patience" of the women.

As Gbowee writes, it was up to the women of Liberia to take back their power, to find the moral high ground and call for peace through a nonviolent movement that lasted for three years. Instead of remaining victims, these women fought back--in a way that made their partners take notice.

Posted by Fara at 10:27 AM | Comments (0)

In the United States, we are deep into discussions of singlehood--the deliberate (or maybe not so deliberate) choice by a growing number of women to remain unmarried. In other countries such as Yemen, women are fighting for the right to not be married off when they are still children.

These two issues struck me as yet another " two sides of the same coin" topic--how our views of marriage are shifting and changing around the world as women continue to expand on their economic freedom. I'd like to hear from you about your view of marriage and the social norms that still drive women toward marriage--even as a growing number of women in the U.S. and around the world choose singlehood. Does the rise of singlehood change the way corporations, governments, society think about single women? What will be the impact of raising the marriage age in countries like Yemen--will it result in more women being educated?

Here's a look at two stories--one from the U.S. and one from Yemen--that started me thinking:

Continue reading "Two Sides: Singlehood and Marriage" »

Posted by Fara at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)