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Ohio Public Policy E-Newsletter
From Jackie Evangelista, jevangelista@roadrunner.com
Your Ohio Public Policy Chair
January 2009

Dear AAUW/Ohio Public Policy Chairs, their Stand-Ins and Other AAUW Officials and Members, This issue of the AAUW/Ohio Public Policy e-Newsletter will focus on only one issue because it is so timely and so critical to women's progress. I urge you to involve your branch in achieving pay equity now and let me know of your good work. Have a great 2009! Jackie

HOUSE PASSES PAY EQUITY BILLS IN RECORD TIME

Well, what a difference a new Congress and President can make! Today's AAUW Washington Update notes: "AAUW applauds the House of Representatives for today's passage of two pieces of legislation that will provide a powerful one-two punch in the fight for pay equity. Legislators approved the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (H.R. 11) by a 247-171 vote and the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 12) by a 256-163 margin."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, however, said a few days ago that the Senate will only act quickly on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act reserving the Paycheck Fairness Act for later. So, there are a number of things branch members can do now to help persuade Senators to pass both bills quickly:

1. Please forward the AAUW Action Network below to your members. It includes a Two-Minute Activist link allowing all your members to quickly contact their Senators. Senator Brown has already supported both bills, but Senator Voinovich has not. So we need to focus on Senator Voinovich. You might take a poll at your next meeting to find out how many members responded and/or ask members to let you know by e-mail if they responded. I would be interested in any feedback you can give. (Public Policy Chairs: If you don't already have a listserv of your branch members, please create one so that you can forward my communiques directly without waiting for someone else in the branch to do it.)

2. Branches located in cities and towns where Senator Voinovich has offices contacted him last summer and lobbied for passage of pay equity legislation Some feel that we still have a chance to bring Senator Voinovich around to our position. Those who contacted him before might want to call or visit the local office again to register your branch's support for both bills. If you want to drop off background information, you might use information from today's AAUW Washington Update's press release on the House passage of the bills, which I have pasted in at the end.

3. Use details from the attached article which details AAUW's long and distinguished history in the pay equity area in some way. Suggestions: Branch presidents and/or newsletter editors might summarize it in your next newsletter. Public policy chairs might use it as the basis of a report at your next meeting. Or it could be copied and distributed at your next meeting. For even more information about how AAUW is involved in this vital issue, please note that AAUW also now has a Pay Equity webpage at: http://www.aauw.org/advocacy/issue_advocacy/actionpages/payequity.cfm that offers links to the many resources the Association provides for studying and advocating on this issue.

4. Use enthusiasm about action on these bills to motivate branch participation in Equal Pay Day, which is April 28 this year. You will find many ideas at: http://www.aauw.org/advocacy/issue_advocacy/actionpages/PayEquityIdeasforAction.cfm including links to the Pay Equity Resource Kit, a pay equity e-card that can be sent to friends and public officials, a workplace audit suggested by the Business and Professional Women/USA, AAUW public service announcements nd much more. Projects related to equal pay are ideal for partnering with other like-minded organizations and thereby spreading news of AAUW's work in this area. Read on...

House Passes Vital Pay Equity Bills - Now On to the Senate! Take Action!

Thanks to the hard work of AAUW Action Network members and our coalition partners, the House passed both the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act on Friday. The Senate is expected to take up these bills as soon as next week, which means your action is needed now. As you may remember, the Senate narrowly failed to pass a vote to move forward with Ledbetter bill last year. The good news is that it's a new Congress, and your message urging your senators to support these critical bills could change the outcome this time around. Even if you have written your senators about this legislation before, now is the time to contact your senators and urge them to vote yes on these critical pieces of legislation and oppose any attempts to weaken them. They need to hear from you now!

According to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2007 the ratio of women's and men's median annual earnings reached almost 78 cents on the dollar for full-time year-round workers, up from just under 77 cents in 2006. This is the narrowest the wage gap has ever been, but it's only an additional one cent on the dollar. One cent is chump change. It isn't real change.