ACTION ALERT: Take Action on Pay Equity Day

An action Alert from Atima Omara-Alwala, National Chair, Women' s Caucus
Young Democrats of America

April 22nd, 2008 is Pay Equity Day!

Currently, women earn 77 cents to the dollar, over a working lifetime, this wage disparity costs the average American woman and her family an estimated $700,000 to $2 million, impacting Social Security benefits and pensions.

In 1996, Equal Pay Day was created by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) as a way to raise awareness about the gap between men's and women's wages. The day, observed on a Tuesday in April, symbolizes how far into the year a woman must work, on average, to earn as much as a man earned the previous year. (Tuesday is the day on which women's wages catch up to men's wages from the previous week.) Because women earn less, on average, than men, they must work longer for the same amount of pay. The wage gap is even greater for most women of color.

As Young Democrats we are well positioned to make a difference in our communities.

Visit www.yda.org/payequity2008 to get a one pager of what you can do in your Young Democrat local chapters and/or your Women's Caucuses, to raise awareness and take action around an issue important to us all.

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