Published: April 22, 2008 10:51 pm            

Valley women wear red to support National Equal Pay Day

One year out of college, women earn 20 percent less than men

ST. MARY-OF-THE-WOODS — Michelle Adler not only wore red Tuesday, but she sees red when she thinks about pay inequities between men and women in the work force.

A single mother of 8-year-old twins, she is the sole income earner and needs a healthy paycheck to support her family.

The St. Mary-of-the-Woods College student wore red Tuesday to support National Equal Pay Day. The College’s Career Development Center encouraged everyone on campus to wear red to show their support for equal work for equal pay.

Red is the symbolic color because women are “in the red” when it comes to economic disparities that exist between men and women.

Women who are one year out of college and working full time earn only about 80 percent as much as their male colleagues, according to research conducted by the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation.

The percentage decreases to 69 percent 10 years out of college. A variety of factors are attributed to the pay gap, including choice of college, college major and occupation.

Controlling for all identifiable factors, an unexplainable gap remains, according to the AAUW research. That unexplained gap is “evidence of discrimination, which remains a serious problem for women in the work force,” the report said.

Another key reason for the pay gap is that “women are less likely to negotiate salaries,” said Jackie Fischer, The Woods’ associate director of career development/director of interns.

Also, when women stay at home to care for their children, that affects their career experience level and may influence their ability to get higher-paid jobs later on, Fischer said.

In the future, The Woods hopes to assist students in developing salary negotiation skills, Fischer said.

Last fall, she wrote and received a “Gender and Economic Disparity” grant aimed at educating the campus and Terre Haute communities about the gender pay gap. The grant was from the Career Development Professionals of Indiana.

Adler, 31, said she worked for a company that paid her less than men who had the same education and background. “That’s why I quit and went to college,” she said. She is majoring in studio art at The Woods and eventually hopes to get a master’s degree and teach at the college level.

When she learned about the pay gap between men and women, “It hit home with me,” Adler said. “I feel so passionate about this issue. I want my girls to grow up with better opportunities than I had.”

She made her daughters wear red Tuesday “and I told them to tell everyone at school why they are wearing red.”

The pay gap “is an important issue for our students,” Fischer said.

National Equal Pay Day is conducted on a Tuesday each year because that is the day of the week that women’s pay catches up with men’s pay. Essentially, because of the gender pay gap, women are working for free on Mondays, according to a Woods news release.

To show support for Equal Pay Day, students, faculty and staff had the opportunity to buy T-shirts designed by senior Cassie Phegley. Even the purchase price of the shirts reflected the gender pay gap — women paid $1.60 for the shirt while men paid $2.

Grant activities have included an educational survey at the college as well as community educational events. One of the events, called Gender Pay Gap Jeopardy, was presented to three economics classes at West Vigo High School.

Adler created an educational ad about the pay gap that appeared in Monday’s Tribune-Star.

Adler wore a red shirt part of the day Tuesday, but later, she changed to one of the shirts designed by Phegley. The shirt read: “SMWC fights for cents … fight the gender pay gap.”

Woods student Valentine Soposky, a senior theater major from Lafayette, said the pay inequity “doesn’t make sense considering statistically, we have higher GPAs.”

When she pursues a career after graduation, she said she won’t assume that she gets paid the same amount as her male counterpart. “I won’t be afraid to speak up,” Soposky said.

Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.

        

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