Newsweek’s March 29, 2010 issue has an article about the 46 women who sued that organization in 1970 because they were prohibited from writing stories because of their sex. They could do the investigative reporting, but the stories they dug up were handed over to men to write.
The article goes on to discuss the gains women have or haven’t made in the ensuing decades. At the time they instigated their lawsuit, with a young Eleanor Holmes Norton as their attorney, women earned $0.58 for every $1.00 that men earned. By 2009, when President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Act, which supports equal pay for equal work—a concept originally passed in 1963 during Kennedy’s administration, the women’s pay had increased to $0.77 for every $1.00 that men earned.
I remember a campaign sponsored by the National Federation of Business and Professional Women about the time that I was President of the Downtown Denver Business and Professional Women’s Club. We called it the red purse campaign, and I still have a campaign style button with a picture of a red purse dating from 1988. The purpose of the campaign was to draw national attention to wage disparity.
It seems the wage disparity is still with us, although some ground has been gained. Until women earn the same as men, however, we can’t say that we are there yet. Other rights that women fought for are eroding also. Colorado was the first state in the nation to legalize abortion for women who had been raped, in the case of incest, or if the life of the mother was at stake. I see that there will be a ballot issue this fall asking Coloradans to make abortion illegal. When considering that vote, which was soundly defeated the last time it appeared on the ballot, I’ll be thinking about trends. It wasn’t too long ago that using contraception was illegal for married women. And the Equal Rights Amendment was never ratified by the states.
We aren’t there yet, but I want to see women continue to make progress, not go back to the conditions that were prevalent when I was a young woman starting a career—over forty years ago.
Homework
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_14769112?source=pophome
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_14769112?source=pophome
http://www.bpwfoundation.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=5172
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cecile-richards/international-womens-day_b_489752.html
http://hosted2.ap.org/COGRA/a1210881e1db47d69e4869ba913e6100/Article_2010-03-27-US-Abortion-Amendment-Colorado/id-pf83bf47ef2f94cd6b606b7db6fa49933
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_the_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griswold_v._Connecticut
The article goes on to discuss the gains women have or haven’t made in the ensuing decades. At the time they instigated their lawsuit, with a young Eleanor Holmes Norton as their attorney, women earned $0.58 for every $1.00 that men earned. By 2009, when President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Act, which supports equal pay for equal work—a concept originally passed in 1963 during Kennedy’s administration, the women’s pay had increased to $0.77 for every $1.00 that men earned.
I remember a campaign sponsored by the National Federation of Business and Professional Women about the time that I was President of the Downtown Denver Business and Professional Women’s Club. We called it the red purse campaign, and I still have a campaign style button with a picture of a red purse dating from 1988. The purpose of the campaign was to draw national attention to wage disparity.
It seems the wage disparity is still with us, although some ground has been gained. Until women earn the same as men, however, we can’t say that we are there yet. Other rights that women fought for are eroding also. Colorado was the first state in the nation to legalize abortion for women who had been raped, in the case of incest, or if the life of the mother was at stake. I see that there will be a ballot issue this fall asking Coloradans to make abortion illegal. When considering that vote, which was soundly defeated the last time it appeared on the ballot, I’ll be thinking about trends. It wasn’t too long ago that using contraception was illegal for married women. And the Equal Rights Amendment was never ratified by the states.
We aren’t there yet, but I want to see women continue to make progress, not go back to the conditions that were prevalent when I was a young woman starting a career—over forty years ago.
Homework
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_14769112?source=pophome
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_14769112?source=pophome
http://www.bpwfoundation.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=5172
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cecile-richards/international-womens-day_b_489752.html
http://hosted2.ap.org/COGRA/a1210881e1db47d69e4869ba913e6100/Article_2010-03-27-US-Abortion-Amendment-Colorado/id-pf83bf47ef2f94cd6b606b7db6fa49933
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_the_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griswold_v._Connecticut
RSS Feed