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Economic Equity News: March 14, 2016

Economic equity news is a weekly round-up of articles by Donna Seymour of AAUW-NYS that features our core values of poverty solutions, opportunity and access, workplace fairness, healthy lives, equal pay and representation at all tables. Sign up for our mailing list to receive this directly to your inbox.

 

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today reminded New Yorkers that they must register to vote by March 25 in order to cast ballots in the upcoming presidential primaries on April 19. New Yorkers looking to register to vote, or to change their enrollment information, can do so easily by using the state’s online voter registration service on the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles’ website. Since Governor Cuomo launched the system in 2012, more than 256,600 New Yorkers – 80,500 of which were registering for the first time – have registered to vote using the automated online system, MyDMV.

Gender parity in the workplace may still be a long way off, but in some states women’s voices are louder than elsewhere. Maryland is the most gender-equal state in the U.S., with Vermont second and Minnesota, Connecticut and Hawaii rounding out the top five, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The ranking is based on the female-versus-male pay ratio, women’s labor participation rates, college degree holders, health coverage and poverty levels.

While the conversation around gender equality has been elevated by world leaders (and the celebration of International Women’s Day), it seems not much has changed. Income equality and women leadership in the workplace still lag behind much touted goals.

So far, the evidence states that gender equality is a winning proposition. One study, for example, found that companies with women on their boards outperform those with all-male boards, leading to an opportunity cost of $655 billion a year in the U.S., U.K. andIndia alone.

The union that represents journalists at The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch and Barron’s announced this week that Dow Jones, which owns the publications, pay men more than women in jobs of similar tenure.

Women have seen only “marginal improvements” in the world of work in the past 20 years, according to a global study. The International Labour Organization (ILO) said the difference in the employment rate between men and women had decreased by 0.6% since 1995.

 


Donna Seymour, who hails from the (far upstate) North Country of NYS, has spent 40 plus years advocating for children, women and family issues, equity, sustainability, and social justice issues. Currently serving as the Public Policy VP for AAUW-NYS (the American Association University Women), she is also a member the League of Women Voters, the Equal Pay Coalition, PTA, NOW, and Planned Parenthood, just to name a few.