Friday, April 7, 2017

Being Ladylike Does Not Require Silence


     Tuesday, April 4 was Equal Pay Day, a reminder that American women are paid less than men at work. It’s shameful that it still takes an extra three months, 94 days to be exact, for a woman working full time to earn what a man makes in a year. On the average, women make just 80 cents to the dollar of what their male counterparts earn. In NC, women make 82 cents to a man’s dollar. What's even more infuriating is that for women of color, the gap is even larger: Black women make just $0.63 compared to white men with the same job, while Hispanic women make just $0.54. When women aren't paid fairly, it doesn't just shortchange them. It hurts their families, their children and our economy.
Leave It To Beaver
Growing up in the 60s and 70s, I have seen and personally experienced a lot of progress. My childhood female heroes were the housewives in Leave it to Beaver,
Ozzie and Harriett and Father Knows Best, women whose career goals were getting the kids off to school and serving dinner on time. During those years, my own mom was a “stay at home mom.” I even walked home from school for lunch to find my mom waiting at the door and lunch on the table. A working woman as a role model didn’t come along until the late 1960s and early 1970s when shows such as Julia, where Diahann Carroll starred in the first nonstereotypical role for an African-American woman as Julia Baker, a single mom who worked full time as a nurse and The Mary Tyler Moore Show in which Moore portrayed Mary Richards, a career-oriented single woman who was a news producer for a TV station in Minneapolis. By this time, my own mom, a well-educated woman, had joined the work force as an administrator in the school system. My vision of my future began to change as I watched her go to work every day and command respect. I was also blessed to have a well-educated dad, who never spoke in terms of “If” but “When” I would go to college. Both parents encouraged me to get an education and a career and to “always be able to take care of yourself.” However, girls in that era were still expected to enter a career of one of the five ‘Cs’ – caring, catering, cashiering, cleaning and clerical work. That made nurses, teachers and secretaries the acceptable careers for females. The high school home economics and typing classes were full of females preparing for their futures. Then in 1966, the National Organization of Women was formed and Gloria Steinem became a household word, although not always in a good way, along with Ms Magazine. But the first woman who got my attention was Betty Ford. Betty Ford made no secret of her support for women’s rights, abortion rights or for the ERA. I recall watching her on television as she made shockingly bold statements about her children, her breast cancer, her addiction problems, premarital sex and marijuana use. When the 1980 National Republican Convention in Detroit was deciding whether or not to keep the ERA in its platform, Betty Ford walked out of the convention and marched in the National Organization for Women's protest through the streets of Detroit past the convention center. Betty Ford then traveled as the NOW-ERA countdown co-chair across the country kicking off more than 170 rallies in 42 states. She led marches, rallies, walks, fund-raising dinners and events. She stood firm against the push back she received from the conservative Republicans strongly opposed to her liberal social views.           
    
     Yes, we have come a long way, but we still have so far to go. Women dominate nursing, but men make more. Male janitors earn more than female maids and housekeepers.  When females enter a male dominated field, all salaries begin to drop. The US women’s national soccer team could have their winningest season and the men have their worst season and the men would make more. The gender pay gap increases as women climb the corporate ladder, get more education and more experience.  On March 27, Trump took women’s rights backwards again and revoked the 2014 Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order.  By overturning the Fair Pay order, Trump has further made women more vulnerable to work place abuse and salary discrepancies 
Betty Ford
     In an October 1975 speech, Betty Ford said: "Many barriers continue to the paths of most women, even on the most basic issue of equal pay for equal work…the wage discrepancy between men and women is a problem for our whole society, not just the individual woman…. The first important steps have to be to undo the laws that hem women in and lock them out of the mainstream of opportunities…My own support of the Equal Rights Amendment has shown what happens when a definition of proper behavior collides with the right of an individual to personal opinions. I do not believe that being First Lady should prevent me from expressing my views. I spoke out on this important issue, because of my deep personal convictions. Why should my husband's job or yours prevent us from being ourselves? Being ladylike does not require silence."    
     On Equal Pay Day, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine joined U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) to reintroduce the Paycheck Fairness Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act, legislation to address the gender pay gap and strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963 guaranteeing that women can challenge pay discrimination and hold employers accountable. In March, Nevada approved the ERA, bringing us two states shy of finally ratifying the amendment. We cannot be silent. We must contact our legislators in support of both these legislations. The National Organization for Women has chapters in every state with 70 local chapters. They need you. Men and women are both welcome as members. Women’s March groups have formed across the country to address a wide range of issues. Now is not the time to be silent. As Helen Reddy sang in the 70’s, “hear me roar", we must be heard. And Happy Birthday to Betty Ford, born this day, April 8, in 1918. Thank you for inspiring a generation of women to stand up and be heard. We will not be silent.
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