Don’t Forget About #PayEquityToo

The last year has been one of the most important for women with the #metoo movement to address long-standing sexual harassment in the workplace. Now the equally important workplace issue of gender pay equity also needs to move forward to end discriminatory salary practices that continue today in communications and other fields.

Equal pay remains a myth. In the United States, women are paid an average of 80 cents on the dollar compared to men, the most recent federal statistics show.

No More Baby Steps

Yes, women have made gains in the workplace and salaries are improving but the rate of change is small and slow. It could take until 2119 — that’s correct, more than a century from now — for the U.S. to close the gender pay gap, according to the American Association of University Women. AAUW is holding workshops this year around the country to educate women about the issue and to teach ways to negotiate a pay raise. Details here.

In my field, the newspaper business, a survey by the Newspaper Guild of Detroit found that males make a median wage of $2.31 more an hour than women at the Detroit Free Press, where I worked the last 30 years of my career. Findings by the union at other newspapers found these same pay disparities. The difference may sound small but add up substantially over a lifetime, affecting pensions. The union’s report on pay discrepancies at the Free Press and the Detroit News is available here.

Women Demand Real Progress

Galvanized by the study, six brave women at the Detroit Free Press last year sued the newspaper to change this long-standing problem. The executive editor of the newspaper, who recently won a diversity award from Kent State University, told the court the lawsuit “has no merit.’’ In March 2018, a Detroit federal judge disagreed, refusing to dismiss the case. Deborah Gordan, the women’s attorney, started her career in Detroit bringing a similar class action lawsuit against the Detroit News. She is a tiger of a litigator and known for taking cases she can win. Follow my LinkedIn account for updates.

Women, and the generations to come, deserve safe and fair workplace practices. Please add #payequitytoo to your call for justice.

About the Author

Patricia Anstett is an experienced medical writer who worked 40 years in newspaper journalism in Chicago, Washington D.C. and Detroit, her hometown. For the last 22 years of her professional newspaper career she was a medical writer for the Detroit Free Press, retiring in September, 2011. In 2017, she was inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame, and she was named Headliner of the Year by the Association for Women in Communications. She is a member of the Detroit AWC chapter, and has been its president, Headliner and Diamond award winner, along with earning a national AWC Clarion award for her women’s health reporting.