One dollar bought you a different cookie based on your gender
The Healdsburg American Association of University Women (AAUW) held an Equal Pay Day event on April 10. Equal Pay Day takes place on April 10, because that is how far into the next year a woman would have to work to make the same amount as a man whose work year ended on Dec. 31.
The focal point of the event was a “consciousness-raising “ cookie sale, meant to illustrate the point that women continue to make only 80 cents for every dollar earned by men in similar positions. At the sale, women who paid a dollar received 100 percent of a cookie donated by Costeaux Bakery in Healdsburg; meanwhile every man who paid the same dollar will receive a cookie merely 80 percent the size.
“We hope this humorous and tasty message will succeed in raising awareness of the illegal and unfair pay gap that continues to plague working women,” said AAUW’s Hillary Kambour in an email.
The event took place in two locations, Big John’s Market in Healdsburg; and Oliver’s Market in Windsor.
According to Kambour, California amended its Equal Pay Act in 2016, effective January 2017. California law now prohibits employers from paying female employees less than men for equal work; protects employees’ right to discuss wages with co-workers; prohibits retaliation against employees who seek to enforce the law; and prohibits employers from justifying a pay difference solely on the grounds of prior salary.
In a statement released by the National Partnership for Women and Families, a state-by-state analysis released for Equal Pay Day reveals that a woman employed full time, year-round in California is typically paid just 88 cents for every dollar paid to a man – a yearly pay difference of $5,928.
California women lose a combined total of more than $84.2 billion every year to the gender wage gap. If it were closed, on average, a woman working full time in California would be able to afford 39 more weeks of food for her family, nearly three more months of mortgage and utilities payments, more than one additional semester of tuition and fees for a four-year public university, the full cost of tuition and fees for a two-year community college, more than four months of rent or more than 7.5 additional months of child care each year.
This new analysis uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau, and finds that California has the second smallest cents-on-the-dollar gap in the nation. It also finds that there is a gender-based wage gap in every single state and the District of Columbia. The cents-on-the-dollar gap is largest in Louisiana and Utah, followed closely by West Virginia and Montana – and smallest in New York, California and Florida.
