Tuesday is equal pay day. That represents how far into a year a woman must work to earn what a man in the same job earned the previous year.
Meg Bell, Director of the American Business Women's Foundation Board said there is progress in wage equity, but it's slow."Some people say it could take another hundred years. I'm hoping not. Minnesota, for example, has already discussed a law that talks about granting certificates that indicates there is equal pay for equal work in certain areas of employment," said Bell.
Bell said she hopes gender pay equality can be accomplished in only fifty years.
Bell says the gender wage gap starts out small with young workers and increases over time in the U.S.
"As women we generally don't speak up on issues that are important to us. We are not that great at negotiating on things that are personally important to us," said Bell.
She said in 1963 women earned just over 50 cents for every male pay dollar. Now its up more than 20 cents.
Bell spoke at a rally in Bloomington for the two-year-old McLean County Equal Pay Coalition.
The Equal Pay Coalition was originally founded by YWCA McLean County and many area women’s organizations seeks to bring awareness of wage inequality for women in our community, change minds, and empower and educate women.
The Coalition maintains the gender pay gap is more than just a woman’s issue. Today, many women are the heads of their households and earning less, which makes the pay gap a family issue.She works in the IT industry.
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