Here’s What I Think – Sally

Here’s What I Think: New Hampshire citizens speak out on gender equality

“I work in a traditionally masculine world of tools and dirt and forest work. My confidence in my ability to move back and forth between both the feminine and masculine worlds should be viewed as a strength, not a weakness, all women should feel that way.”

Sally Manikian
Backcountry Resource Conservation Manager
Appalachian Mountain Club
Gorham, NH

April Gender Matters Infographic

Here is the April Gender Matters infographic! (Download as a PDF)

To view all previous Gender Matters infographics, visit our Gender Matters page in our Research section.

NHWI Commends the NH House in Passing HB 501, Reestablishing a State Hourly Minimum Wage in New Hampshire

April 12, 2013

Chairman Andy Sanborn
Senate Commerce Committee
State House Room 302
107 N. Main Street
Concord, NH 03301

RE: HB 501

Dear Chairman Sanborn:

I am writing to you today in my capacity as the Chair of the New Hampshire Women’s Initiative (NHWI). The NHWI is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 2011, by the merging of the NH Women’s Lobby & Alliance, the Women’s Policy Institute and the NH Status on the Commission of Women. Our mission is to advance social, economic and political opportunity and equality for women in New Hampshire.

The NHWI commends the work of the NH House in passing HB 501 which reestablishes a state hourly minimum wage in New Hampshire. I write on behalf of my board seeking your and your committee’s support of this important bill. As noted in the April 9, 2013 Christian Science Monitor, op-ed “Equal Pay Day: Raising minimum wage will help women and the economy,”:

• The vast majority of adult minimum wage earners are women
• Women are more likely to be the adult heads of households containing children
• The current minimum wage of $7.25, if earned by a full-time worker with two children, represents only 77% of the Federal Poverty Level.

The NHWI sees this legislation as a critical step to restoring legal protections for low wage earners. Because most adult minimum wage earners are women, we see these protections as crucial to economic equality and fair pay, which are two of NHWI’s policy priorities.

Every member of my board believes that living significantly below the poverty level is unacceptable for citizens of this state. To that end, NHWI would also support an increase in New Hampshire’s minimum wage, provided that the increase is reasonably calculated to be meaningful to low wage earners while not substantially disadvantaging New Hampshire business such as your own. As such, while we think an increase deserves discussion, we would not presume to say how large such an increase ought to be.

I thank you for your time and consideration.

Mary Johanna Brown
Chair
The New Hampshire Women’s Initiative

Here’s What I Think – Barb

Here’s What I Think: New Hampshire citizens speak out on gender equality

“The ‘better half’ had better step up again, and let the world know that we are holding up more than ‘Half the Sky’ and should be recognized for that.”

Barbara Zeckhausen
One of the founders of Women’s Fund of NH
Laconia, NH

Equal Pay Day 2013 | Pat Yosha: Women Deserve Equal Pay

The following article was written by NHWI Founding Mother Pat Yosha on this, the 2013 Equal Pay Day (the day a woman must work until in this year to have made the same money a man made by the end of the last year).

WOMEN DESERVE EQUAL PAY

            April 9 is Equal Pay Day. Fifty years after President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, (June 1963), women in New Hampshire still earn only 77cents for  every dollar a man makes!  The gender pay gap is a problem that won’t go away. But this is not only a gender issue, pay inequity is a problem that affects families.

Women’s lower earning ability, because of failure of some employers to follow the law and economically sensible practices, results in weakened ability for them to support their families, less financial security upon retirement, lower social security benefits, pension plans and savings ability.

Why does this situation persist, even when there are laws making wage discrimination illegal? One, of course, is history. Women were traditionally paid less than men because they were viewed as less essential to total family income, thought to be  less capable than men, and  were generally  in gender- segregated jobs which were thought to require fewer skills and less education that men’s traditional occupations.  Many  women themselves had lower salary expectations than men.

Another is the continued resistance of some employers to equal pay for equal work. Policies of not sharing wage information with one’s colleagues persisted for years in many industries, and women were not accustomed to articulating their need for a raise. In some organizations, employers simply changed job titles so that it appeared there was a task/skill differential for men and women that justified unequal pay. And all too often, employers used the argument that  women would take time off to raise babies, and therefore an investment in higher salaries for them  was  not profitable.

We are all aware that times have changed, but  they have not changed adequately. Attempts to end pay discrepancies between women and men for equal work have been met not only with employer resistance, but also  with government resistance. One of President Obama’s first acts as President was the signing of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act in 2009, which allows victims of pay discrimination to file a complaint with the government against their employer within 180 days of their last paycheck. The catch, in the past at least, is that employees did not always know within 180 days that there was a pay differential – because of the practice of non-open salary discussions and unpublished salary scales! To remedy the continued inequities, the Paycheck Fairness Act has been reintroduced in Congress. Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Representative Carol Shea-Porter are cosponsors of these bills in their respective houses of the Legislature.

Younger women have always had earnings more compatible than those of their elders.  The wage gap of women under 25 is about 7%. Better. But not equal.

What can we do to change the situation? We can put pressure on ALL of Congress to vote for  the Paycheck Fairness Act. Remind them that the pay gap is real, and it’s an issue that matters to millions of women and their families.  We can gather information by reading onlilne “A Guide to Women’s Equal Pay Rights”, published by the Women’ Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor.

And we can each call attention to the equal pay issue by wearing RED on April 9, Equal Pay Day!

Patricia Yosha

Exeter, NH