#Union Women’s Equal Pay Day

[coochiequeens]

Unionize

On this day, Feb. 12, we recognize “Union Women’s Equal Pay Day,” an important reminder of how empowering more women to form and join unions can advance pay equity for women.

Since 1996, advocates for pay equity for women have observed National Equal Pay Day to spotlight the persistent gender wage gap in America and why fairness demands it be closed. On average, a woman working full-time, year-round in the U.S. must work until March 14 to earn what a man earned the prior year.

How do unions make a difference? Let some facts do the talking. On average, workers represented by unions earn more than those working in non-union jobs, and union men and women also have more equitable wages compared to each other. Today, 6.5 million women are union members and make up 47 percent of all workers unions represent.

Union representation also has reduced the gender and racial wage gap by nearly 43 percent, compared to the wage gap non-union women face. The narrower these gaps, the greater the wages earned by union women over the course of their careers. Over time, they’ve earned hundreds of thousands of additional dollars and enjoyed greater economic security.

Data clearly show that a woman with a union behind her makes 22 percent more, on average, than a woman fending for herself. Union membership can help ensure pay transparency and equity, and access to benefits such as paid sick days, health insurance, free legal services, professional training and pensions, come with the job.

By electing their leaders, union members democratically choose the people who negotiate their contracts and pave the way for regular wage increases, better job security and ways to address workplace grievances, discrimination and other concerns. They also feel empowered to speak out about pay discrepancies, sexual harassment and safety issues.

Unions empower workers, particularly women and women of color, as they drive organizing campaigns in new areas of our economy. They are leading historic campaigns across the nation: from coffee shops to airports and high-tech to hospitality, women are among the nation’s most determined and successful organizers.

In addition to these victories, unions are working to overcome the single largest measurable cause of the wage gaps: the differences in the jobs people hold. Too often, women and people of color are shut out of high-paying opportunities. Unions help level the playing field by ensuring that workers are not paid less, or excluded from promotions or advancement, simply because of their gender, race or ethnicity.

Unprecedented levels of federal investment through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act will directly create good middle-class jobs that many workers urgently need, especially for women and people of color who are vastly underrepresented in industries such as manufacturing and construction.

Diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility are central to the Department of Labor’s and the AFL-CIO’s efforts to create good jobs in the U.S. as federal infrastructure investments arrive in our communities. North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) released their “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives in the Construction Trades” report on Jan. 17, 2023, which finds that union programs are far more effective at recruiting and training more women and racially diverse groups into the construction industry.

Working with the departments of Transportation, Commerce and Energy, we are determined to make sure the Biden administration’s investments produce good-quality jobs with access to paid family and medical leave, the free and fair choice of a union, paid sick days, health care, supportive services, and freedom from gender-based violence and harassment.

So, join us to mark Union Women’s Equal Pay Day and remember how unions are fighting for justice for all workers, and why we need to change history so that women are paid their full and fair wages each and every day.

Wendy Chun-Hoon is director of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau. Liz Shuler is the president of the AFL-CIO.

[equalpayday]

Trade unions in action.

To mark UN International Equal Pay Day, 18 September, the ITUC is celebrating success stories from trade unions around the world that have campaigned to tackle the gender pay gap.

The briefing, Trade union action to promote equal pay for work of equal value, includes case studies from Chile, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Mauritius, New Zealand, Peru and the UK where unions have used social dialogue, campaigning and collective bargaining to win positive legislation, workplace policies and collective agreements.

On Equal Pay Day 2023, the ITUC Acting General Secretary, Luc Triangle, will be speaking at a high-level event of the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC): “The ITUC has been a member of EPIC since its founding by the UN General Assembly in September 2017. In that time a lot has been achieved, but progress is stalling.

“The main objective is to accelerate the pace of closing the gender pay gap to achieve equal pay for work of equal value by 2030 – a target of Sustainable Development Goal 8. This is central to the New Social Contract that demands fair wages, including minimum living wages, good quality, climate-friendly jobs and equality and inclusion for all.

“That is why we’re not just calling for 575 million new jobs. These jobs must be decent jobs, and one billion informal jobs, where women are overrepresented, must be formalised.

“A huge step towards this would by investing much more in care, as our report shows. The ILO estimates that investing in universal childcare and long-term care along would create 280 million jobs by 2030, it would boost the employment rate of women by 78%, and 84% of these jobs would be formal.

“It’s inspiring to see what so many trade unions are doing around the world to work towards equal pay for work of equal value. It’s time for every government around the world to do the same,” said Luc Triangle.

[bitchesgetriches]

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[mesetacadre]

When the Red Army entered Korea in early August, 1945, heavy battles took place in the north, but the Japanese rule remained tranquil in the south, for the Russians stopped by the Yalta agreement at the 38th parallel, while the Americans came several weeks after the surrender of Japan, and ruled at first through the Japanese and then through the Japanese-appointed Korean officials and police. So naturally all of the pro-Japanese Koreans – former police and officials, landlords and stockholders in Japanese companies – fled south to the American zone. The flight of all these right-wing elements amazingly simplified North Korean politics. The Russians did not have to set up any left-wing government, assuming that they wanted one. They merely set free some ten thousand political prisoners and said, by implication; “Go home, boys, you’re free to organize.” Under Japanese rule all natural political leaders either served Japan or went to jail. With the pro-Japanese gone, the ex-jailbirds became the vindicated heroes of their home towns. They were all radicals of sorts, including many Communists. Anyone who knows what a tremendous reception was given to Tom Mooney when he was released to come home to the workers of San Francisco, may imagine the effect on the small towns and villages when ten thousand of these political martyrs came home. North Korea just naturally took a great swing leftwards, and the Russians had only to recognize “the choice of the Korean people.” People’s Committees sprang up in villages, counties, and provinces and coalesced into a provisional government under the almost legendary guerrilla leader Kim Il Sung. Farmers organized, demanded the land from the landlords and got it in twenty-one days by a government decree. (Compared to the land reforms of other countries, this sounds like a tale of Aladdin’s lamp!) Ninety per cent of all big industry – it had belonged to Japanese concerns – was handed over by the Russians “to the Korean people” and nationalized by one more decree. Trade unions organized, demanded a modern labor code, and got it without any trouble from their new government, with the eight-hour day, abolition of child labor, and social insurance all complete. Another decree made women equal with men in all spheres of activity and another expanded schools. Then general elections were held and a “democratic front” of three parties swept unopposed to power. The natural opposition had all gone south, to be sheltered – and put in power – by the Americans. This is the, reason, I think, for the almost exaggerated sense of “people’s power” that the North Koreans express. Their real class struggle is coming; it hasn’t fully hit them yet. The reactionaries all fled south, where they are bloodily suppressing strikes. In North Korea the farmers are building new houses and buying radios because they no longer pay land rent, while the workers are taking vacations in former Japanese villas. The North Koreans assume that this is just what naturally happens when once you are a “liberated land.” “They aren’t yet liberated down south,” they told me. “The Americans let those pro-Japanese traitors stay in power.”

In North Korea: First Eye-Witness Reports, Anna Louise Strong, 1949

[sarahjacobs]

happy late labor day let's talk about how unionism in the newsies film and broadway production are represented differently.

broadly speaking, there are two different ways to organize labor. there are business unions, also referred to as trade unions, the more conservative mode of labor organizing that has been recuperated into capitalism. why it's deemed as a lesser threat is obvious once we consider its historical exclusion of women, people of color, and so-called "unskilled" workers, as well as its long collaboration with government and businesses at the expense of workers, especially the more radical ones. its ultimate prize is short term gains, such as higher pay, typically via the contract; long term transformative/revolutionary political projects are absent in its aims.

revolutionary unions, on the other hand, are explicitly hostile towards capitalism, with the end goal of instituting socialism always in mind. as one of their newspapers reminds us, "momentary phenomena must not blind us to our ultimate aim."

hard promises has some pretty clear cut references to the latter kind of unionism — mayer quotes and names eugene debs, who in 1905 established the industrial workers of the world (iww), a well known revolutionary union.

its hostility to all proponents of capitalism can be seen by its assessment that —

MAYER: The problem is, Jack, that the working class and the hiring class got nothing in common.

this sentiment comes from the iww's preamble to its constitution:

The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life.

Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the means of production, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony with the Earth.

in the iww's eyes, the world can be divided in two, the capitalists and the workers, between which "there can be no peace."

as for the business unionist's point of view —

When rightly considered, the interests of employer and employed are identical. In the first place both make their living out of the same business or undertaking. . . . [A]ny business is a partnership to a certain extent.

[This union wishes to] prevent unnecessary clashes between employer and employed.

— which states that workers and capitalists have common interests and should work together.

ironically enough, these excerpts were drawn from eugene debs himself, the essay "employer and employed." it was penned in 1884, before his involvement in the pullman strike and his subsequent prison sentence later that year, which reformed him into a socialist.

from debs's 1902 essay, "how i became a socialist," on the topic of his time as a business unionist:

. . . [N]o shadow of a "system" fell athwart my pathway; no thought of ending wage-misery marred my plans. I was too deeply absorbed in perfecting wage-servitude and making it a "thing of beauty and a joy forever."

the key issue of business unions is that they don't know their enemy. what's desired is a more "[perfect] wage-servitude," a more prolonged and humanitarian and fair suffering.

newsies live, too, doesn't know its enemy — i've already talked at length about how fierstein mistakenly places the heart of the struggle in a generational divide rather than the structure of capitalism itself. and because the "shadow of a 'system'" is absent, what we end up with, in both business unionism and broadway's take on newsies, is a labor struggle rife with conciliation and contradiction.

DAVEY: We're done being treated like kids. From now on they will treat us as equals.

KATHERINE: "For the sake of all the kids in every sweatshop, factory, and slaughter house in New York, I beg you… join us." With those words, the strike stopped being just about the newsies. You challenged our whole generation to stand up and demand a place at the table.

throughout newsies live, we see time and time again that there's a disconnect at hand, between the material reality of the conditions that caused the strike and what the writers have them say they're striking against. the oppressive work conditions and horrifically low pay are attributed to them "being treated like kids," and this fight is purported to belong to "our whole generation" — when there's a very real difference between katherine and someone like sarah, why they're working, and the kind of work they can access.

ultimately, the issue fierstein presents is not just a generational divide but one of power not being shared. the rhetoric of wanting to be treated "like equals" and demanding "a place at the table" seem to a) posit that there's such a thing as workers being equal with their employer, and b) voice a desire to share power (the table) with the employer. but an even split of power is impossible when the employer/pulitzer has state power (police, armed strikebreakers, the court) and funds at his disposal in such a way that the workers/newsies are systematically cut off from. the democratization of the workplace is worthless so long as the structures which privilege certain classes are intact.

the proposed solution is that the "[older] generation step aside and invite the young to share the day," as roosevelt puts it. this looks an awful lot like the partnership that debs so exalted in "employer and employed," and i think this connection becomes especially apparent in how negotiations play out.

on broadway, roosevelt has an almost overwhelming presence in the negotiating room. this is a bizarre choice because not only is it a missed opportunity to showcase the strengths of the characters we actually care about, it's also a noticeable departure from 92, which brings roosevelt in primarily to handle the refuge.

SEITZ: And the [trolley] strike's about to be settled. Governor Roosevelt just put his support behind the workers.

it's this line, also a new addition, that indicates the increased role of roosevelt is due to a lack of trust in worker power. or, put more simply, the writer's belief that the government needs to — and should — step in, in order for workers to get any wins; otherwise, labor and capital would be at a standstill. but we should always be skeptical of the government because the employer’s monopoly on state power/violence shows that government is in and of itself a kind of class relation. even when the government places restrictions on employers, it often restricts workers as well (ie taft-hartley act).

the increased emphasis on government intervention undermines revolutionary unionism's argument for and commitment to direct action, or action undertaken to address a problem, without the help of authority figures like union bureaucrats, government officials, and so on… direct action is everywhere in newsies — the newsies tearing up papers and overturning wagons, their various methods of dealing with scabs, and the decision to make their own newspaper in light of the total press blackout.

what drives direct action is an understanding of where the power is located — in the people. the film's negotiation scene understood this well —

true power doesn't lie in pulitzer, or even strike leaders. it's in the rank and file, in solidarity and withholding your labor, in direct action.

the broadway scene lacks this kind of analysis, which is why its take on negotiation falls flat for me. another difference is that jack says they win when in fact, they only win concessions, while in 92, they win all of their demands. this raises a lot of questions for me. was there any discussion beforehand in which the newsies collectively agreed what they were willing to give up — if they were willing to concede anything at all? or did jack make a unilateral decision on behalf of the newsies? on a doylist level, why was this change made in the first place? it can't be for realism. jack getting offered what essentially amounts to a promotion at the end is incredibly unrealistic when we consider how common it is for companies to retaliate against workers after a strike ends, ie the workers who were charged with felony vandalism and conspiracy to commit a crime, all for chalk on a sidewalk while picketing.

concessions are part and parcel of business unionism. using "employer and employed" again to draw comparisons —

[The boss should listen] with respect to the demand and affords relief if he can or a reason why if he cannot.

Both sides ought to give and take. . . . [B]oth sides ought to be willing to compromise.

Capital should extend its hand to labor and labor should grasp it in a friendly manner.

this last tidbit mirrors an earlier negotiation, where jack and les argue over how they should split earnings between them. they go back and forth (70-30, 50-50, 60-40 and that's final) until they agree and spit shake; someone comments "that's disgusting," and jack replies that it's "just business."

this mirroring implies a sense of partnership — after all, the spit shake is what marks the beginning of jack, les, and david being business partners — therefore implying equality. but david and les are more equal to jack than jack and pulitzer could ever be.

additionally, jack's final offer to les is 60-40, a split which favors him. similarly, the offer to the newsies favors pulitzer. what business unions and newsies live fail to understand is that labor and capital are enemies on uneven ground. labor has more to lose, so concessions will always disproportionately hurt the workers. they're the ones who truly have to count pennies, not pulitzer. and, well, maybe the speech the historical kid blink gave at a rally puts it best —

I’m trying to figure out how 10 cents on a hundred papers can mean more to a millionaire than it does to a newsboy, and I can’t see it. We can do more with 10 cents than he can with twenty-five.

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 20 May 1936, the first issue of Mujeres Libres (Free Women) was published, a Spanish anarchist feminist magazine by the group of the same name aimed at ending the "triple enslavement of women to ignorance, to capital and to men." One of its cofounders, Lucía Sánchez Saornil, a writer, poet and lesbian who was active in the anarcho-syndicalist CNT union, described the majority of her male comrades as follows: "Even as they rail against property, they are rabidly proprietorial. Even as they rant against slavery, they are the cruellest of “masters.”… The lowliest slave, once he steps across his threshold, becomes lord and master. His merest whim becomes a binding order for the women in his household. He who, just ten minutes earlier, had to swallow the bitter pill of bourgeois humiliation, looms like a tyrant and makes these unhappy creatures swallow the bitter pill of their supposed inferiority." The group went on to play an important role in the Spanish revolution which broke out later that year. In particular, they initiated a huge education campaign to address high illiteracy rates among women and girls, established collective childcare in factories and communities, worked with the CNT to train women for roles in the salaried workforce, and fought for equal pay. A number of members of Mujeres Libres were also among the women who volunteered to fight at the front against nationalist forces in the civil war. We have reproduction artwork by the Mujeres Libres, along with books and more about the CNT in our online store: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/spanish-civil-war https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=629142595925626&set=a.602588028581083&type=3

[dailyanarchistposts]

If we stop, the world stops

Millions of women around the world participated in events for International Women’s Day (IWD) on March the 8th. The most militant action was in the growth of the ‘Women’s Strike’, with 5.3 million people on strike in Spain. In Britain, the interest in the tactics of the strike on IWD is relatively new, yet still 7,000 women pledged to strike. In addition, links were made to grass roots unions such as the Cleaners and Allied Independent Workers Union (CAIUW) with support for their pickets for a Living Wage. Sex workers also co-ordinated their own actions for decriminalisation and trans women held an action over the problems of access to NHS services.

The organisers in Britain made it clear that the strike should focus on demands for working class women, including those who often face the most exploitation and discrimination, like migrants, sex workers, trans women. It is not just a strike about traditional work but also about ‘invisible labour’, such as care, domestic and emotional labour, and against male violence. The historical origins of the day make it clear that the purpose is not to have more women politicians or company directors (see box). Instead it is focused on the majority of women who are at the bottom of the pile, both in the workplace and in the home. According to one organiser of the Women’s Strike in Britain: “We are instead taking action – action against our exploitation under capitalism, where the domestic and emotional work we do for little or no pay is made invisible, while austerity measures force us into a more and more vulnerable position. This is feminism for the 99%”.

It was in Spain, however, that the strike was the most successful. This was partially because of the support it got from the mainstream unions. However, it is clear that they were forced into support as a result of the massive upsurge from the grass roots organisations. According to one source (thefreeonline.wordpress.com): “An important feature of this strike is that it has been promoted and organised from the bottom up, and not the other way around. That is to say, the initiative of the strike has been born first in the streets, in the neighbourhoods and districts and has developed in open assemblies. It has not been a proposal of the unions, but of the feminist movement.” The mainstream unions only called for a 2 hour strike whereas unions such as the CGT and the anarchist CNT called for 24 hour stoppages.

Despite calls for the strike to be based on working class women, it is uncertain to what extent many women could actually participate, given that they are the ones in the most precarious position. In Spain, headlines were given to women in media and other professional jobs. In Britain, the strike was most successful in the universities, with 61 universities taking part. However, the link to CAIWU and sex workers showed that there certainly was support outside the universities.

If women are to truly win all the demands put forward on the day then we must go beyond demands for equality in the system and call for both the end of capitalism and patriarchy. So how is this going to happen? The strike in Spain may have been very successful in terms of numbers on the streets but what will it achieve in terms of winning demands? Politicians and even bosses may pay lip service to the aims of IWD but they are unlikely to do anything about it. In the end, using the success of March the 8th, women and men must continue to organise at the grass roots level and build up a movement that lasts much longer than a day. The linking up of a number of groups on the 8th provides a good basis on which to move forward.

Origins of International Women’s Day

March 8 is International Women’s Day. This date commemorates March 8, 1909, when 129 employees of a cotton textile factory in New York were killed when their own owner set fire to the factory while all of them were inside making a protest demanding labour rights. In addition, the colour of feminism is violet because, it is said, the smoke that came from that fire was violet, like the fabrics that were there that day. At an International Congress of Socialist Women in 1910, Clara Zetkin proposed this date as the International Women’s Day in honour of the cotton workers.

[mildlybizarrecorvid]

Remember how I said I'd talk about the guy who looted the UFO in my Dialtone lore post?

Let's talk about Nathaniel Robot.

Born in the early 19th century to middle classed immigrants, Nathaniel initially led a fairly standard life. Then at the age of 8, they left him behind on a family trip and were so caught up in frontier shit they failed to notice and get him back for two years.

A born entrepreneur, Nathaniel made his first break into business running a way station and general store. He quickly changed his surname to Robot, a set of random letters he got by asking strangers for their favorite letter, from his birth name of Murderface, fearing the effects it may have on business.

Nathaniel made his initial fortune, however, with a different business. He made his journey west, as was fashionable at the time, and he noticed a few things rather obvious nowadays.

1: People are happy to work for you if you treat them well, especially if other places won't.

2: There were a lot of women and minorities who wanted to get into various fields, but were unable to because this was the 19th century.

With this knowledge, he set about founding a variety of businesses with the fundamental principle of hiring and treating people solely off of the quality of their work. As you can guess, he was also staunchly pro-union. Because this is my fun lil oc world and I'm god, this worked great for him.

After some years of success and significantly moving the cultural norms leftward, he moved to Alaska in hopes of high yield snow farming. While there, he discovered an alien space ship which had crashed some years prior. Like any right thinking American, he investigated alone without telling anyone. Some time later, he ran into the nearest town raving of devices 'beyond comprehension' and scheduled a demonstration. Once the day came, he showed off a computer he's fixed up, powered by a solar panel he'd pried off the ship.

After he threw money at someone smart to reverse engineer the technology, he'd essentially thrown technology ahead over a century, furthering his business. Despite this, he made many of the patents public with the logic that if someone added a brilliant extra, he could hire them, or give a grant. He was less a brilliant businessman than lucky, and the type who's willing to throw money at anything vaguely interesting.

While technology was able to extend Robot's life significantly, he eventually passed away in the mid 20th century. However, he went out with a bang, mere weeks after announcements of his company creating the first autonomous computer, dubbed a robot in his honor.

Robot's was also a life-long supporter of civil rights movements, known for bragging about his 'anonymous' donations to whichever groups looked most likely to make an effective difference. These actions by someone with an enormous influence (just look at Edison [fuck Edison], or Carnegie for people who could approximate his status) resulted in much of that world achieving the closest to full equality and equity you're going to get in the late 20th century. A known bisexual, Robot's suspected relationship with gay activist Steven Mandater would likely have resulted in scandal if not for the public perception of him being batshit insane anyway.

Examples of what caused that view were his claim that seagulls only don't talk for fear of paying taxes, his claim to have invented calculus before Newton, and the fact that before anyone told him of motion picture technology he withdrew into his rooms for a week before returning with a full script for what would to a person from our world be recognizable as the original Star Wars trilogy.

[ukrfeminism]

The government has been urged to more than double maternity pay so it is equal to minimum wage as mothers are being forced to choose between eating and heating their homes.

Mothers are brushing their teeth to beat hunger cravings, only eating toast all day, or resorting to consuming their kid’s leftovers – with one woman saying she became anaemic due to missing meals, new research has found.

The study, by the trade union Unison and the charity Maternity Action, found seven in 10 mothers have turned down their thermostat while over half turned off the heating to save money.

Mothers warn skimping on heating is causing damp and mould problems in their homes and leaving them with health problems such as respiratory issues – as well as sparking fears their new babies may be getting cold.

Researchers, who polled 1,400 mothers in the UK who had taken maternity leave, also discovered around a third were either missing meals altogether or opting for smaller portion sizes.

One in 20 said they sometimes went without food all day to save money as they were so anxious about the cost of living crisis, while around half said they were being forced to buy less healthy food. 

Union representatives and campaigners urged ministers to raise statutory maternity pay to £364.70 a week to ensure new mothers are not forced to return to work too early – warning the current amount of £172.48 is inadequate.

Ministers must more than double the pay so women receive what amounts to the national minimum wage of £10.42 per hour, campaigners warned, also raising concerns women are cutting down their maternity leave.

Around six in 10 mothers went back to work before they completely recovered from giving birth due to anxiety about money, campaigners claimed.

“Everyone is feeling the impact of escalating living costs. But it’s hitting new mums particularly hard,” Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said.

“No mother should have to go without food or skip meals. But the failure of maternity pay to keep up with increasing living costs is driving many pregnant workers and new mothers into severe financial hardship.

“The government is effectively forcing many women to choose between work and family. They must raise maternity leave pay to ensure no one is penalised for having a baby.”

In the UK, statutory maternity leave is paid for up to 39 weeks – with mothers getting 90 per cent of average weekly earnings before tax for the first six weeks. After that, mothers get £172.48 or 90 per cent of their average weekly earnings, whichever sum is lower, for the next 33 weeks. Employers can offer better terms but they are not legally obliged to.

“Mothers shouldn’t be forced to cut short their maternity leave because they can’t make ends meet,” Ros Bragg, Maternity Action’s director, said. “This is an important time for women to recover from the birth and bond with their baby.”

Ms Bragg argued women must keep their stress levels down while pregnant and during their child's first year, rather than being wracked with anxiety about how they will afford basics.

“Stress during pregnancy puts women at increased risk of post-natal depression and other mental health conditions,” she added. “The government should be supporting pregnant women and new mothers to live healthy lives, not leaving them struggling to keep their house warm and eat a balanced diet.”

A mother, who was forced to return to work when her son was just three months old, said: “We had to take a £5,000 loan to keep us afloat for those three months (on maternity leave) because the maternity pay wasn’t enough.”

A government spokesperson said: “We want new mothers to be able to take time away from work to protect their health and wellbeing and that of their child. That is why we increased Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance by over 10 per cent last year and will raise it again by 6.7 per cent from April.

“In addition, parents who are ready to return to work will benefit from the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever and we’re supporting those who are struggling with record financial support worth around £3,700 per household.”

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[women protesting SCOTUS overturning Roe v. Wade]

* * * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

AUG 26, 2023

On this date in 1920, the U.S. Secretary of State received the official notification from the governor of Tennessee that his state had ratified the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Tennessee was the 36th state to ratify the amendment, and the last one necessary to make the amendment the law of the land once the secretary of state certified it. He did that as soon as he received the notification, making this date the anniversary of the day the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified. 

The new amendment was patterned on the Fifteenth Amendment protecting the right of Black men to vote, and it read: 

“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

“Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

Like the momentum for the Fifteenth Amendment, the push for rights for women had taken root during the Civil War as women backed the United States armies with their money, buying bonds and paying taxes; with their loved ones, sending sons and husbands and fathers to the war front; with their labor, working in factories and fields and taking over from men in the nursing and teaching professions; and even with their lives, spying and fighting for the Union. In the aftermath of the war, as the divided nation was rebuilt, many of them expected they would have a say in how it was reconstructed.

But to their dismay, the Fourteenth Amendment explicitly tied the right to vote to “male” citizens, inserting the word “male” into the Constitution for the first time.

Boston abolitionist Julia Ward Howe, the author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, was outraged. The laws of the age gave control of her property and her children to her abusive husband, and while far from a rabble-rouser, she wanted the right to adjust those laws so they were fair. In this moment, it seemed the right the Founders had articulated in the Declaration of Independence—the right to consent to the government under which one lived—was to be denied to the very women who had helped preserve the country, while white male Confederates and now Black men both enjoyed that right.

“The Civil War came to an end, leaving the slave not only emancipated, but endowed with the full dignity of citizenship. The women of the North had greatly helped to open the door which admitted him to freedom and its safeguard, the ballot. Was this door to be shut in their face?” Howe wondered.

The next year, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed the National Woman Suffrage Association, and six months later, Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe founded the American Woman Suffrage Association.

The National Woman Suffrage Association wanted a larger reworking of gender roles in American society, drawing from the Seneca Falls Convention that Stanton had organized in 1848.

That convention’s Declaration of Sentiments, patterned explicitly on the Declaration of Independence, asserted that “all men and women are created equal” and that “the history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her,” listing the many ways in which men had “fraudulently deprived [women] of their most sacred rights” and insisting that women receive “immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of these United States.”

While the National Woman Suffrage Association excluded men from its membership, the American Woman Suffrage Association made a point of including men equally, as well as Black woman suffragists, to indicate that they were interested in the universal right to vote and only in that right, believing the rest of the rights their rivals demanded would come through voting.

The women’s suffrage movement had initial success in the western territories, both because lawmakers there were hoping to attract women for their male-heavy communities and because the same lawmakers were furious at the growing noise about Black voting. Wyoming Territory granted women the vote in 1869, and lawmakers in Utah Territory followed suit in 1870, expecting that women would vote against polygamy there. When women in fact supported polygamy, Utah lawmakers tried unsuccessfully to take their vote away, and the movement for women’s suffrage in the West slowed dramatically.

Suffragists had hopes of being included in the Fifteenth Amendment, but when they were not, they decided to test their right to vote under the Fourteenth Amendment in the 1872 election. According to its statement that anyone born in the U.S. was a citizen, they were certainly citizens and thus should be able to vote. In New York state, Susan B. Anthony voted successfully but was later tried and convicted—in an all-male courtroom in which she did not have the right to testify—for the crime of voting.

In Missouri a voting registrar named Reese Happersett refused to permit suffragist Virginia Minor to register. Minor sued Happersett, and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court. The justices handed down a unanimous decision in 1875, deciding that women were indeed citizens but that citizenship did not necessarily convey the right to vote.

This decision meant the fat was in the fire for Black Americans in the South, as it paved the way for white supremacists to keep them from the polls in 1876. But it was also a blow to suffragists, who recast their claims to voting by moving away from the idea that they had a human right to consent to their government, and toward the idea that they would be better and more principled voters than the Black men and immigrants who, under the law anyway, had the right to vote.

For the next two decades, the women’s suffrage movement drew its power from the many women’s organizations put together across the country by women of all races and backgrounds who came together to stop excessive drinking, clean up the sewage in city streets, protect children, stop lynching, and promote civil rights.

Black women like educator Mary Church Terrell and journalist Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, publisher of the Woman’s Era, brought a broad lens to the movement from their work for civil rights, but they could not miss that Black women stood in between the movements for Black rights and women’s rights, a position scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw would identify In the twentieth century as “intersectionality.”

In 1890 the two major suffrage associations merged into the National American Woman Suffrage Association and worked to change voting laws at the state level. Gradually, western states and territories permitted women to vote in certain elections until by 1920, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, California, Oregon, Arizona, Kansas, Alaska Territory, Montana, and Nevada recognized women’s right to vote in at least some elections.

Suffragists recognized that action at the federal level would be more effective than a state-by-state strategy. The day before Democratic president Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated in 1913, they organized a suffrage parade in Washington, D.C., that grabbed media attention. They continued civil disobedience to pressure Wilson into supporting their movement.

Still, it took another war effort, that of World War I, which the U.S. entered in 1917, to light a fire under the lawmakers whose votes would be necessary to get a suffrage amendment through Congress and send it off to the states for ratification. Wilson, finally on board as he faced a difficult midterm election in 1918, backed a constitutional amendment, asking congressmen: “Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right?”

Congress passed the measure in a special session on June 4, 1919, and Tennessee’s ratification on August 18, 1920, made it the law of the land as soon as the official notice was in the hands of the secretary of state. Twenty-six million American women had the right to vote in the 1920 presidential election.

Crucially, as the Black suffragists had known all too well when they found themselves caught between the drives for Black male voting and women’s suffrage, Jim Crow and Juan Crow laws meant that most Black women and women of color would remain unable to vote for another 45 years. And yet they never stopped fighting for that right. For all that the speakers at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Equality were men, in fact women like Fannie Lou Hamer, Amelia Boynton, Rosa Parks, Viola Liuzzo, and Constance Baker Motley were key organizers of voting rights initiatives, spreading information, arranging marches, sparking key protests, and preparing legal cases.

And now women are the crucial demographic going into the 2024 elections. Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg noted in June that there was a huge spike of women registering to vote after the Supreme Court in June 2022 overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision recognizing the constitutional right to abortion, and that Democratic turnout has exceeded expectations ever since.

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[ritchiepage2001newaccount]

#CorpMedia #Idiocracy #Oligarchs #MegaBanks vs #Union #Occupy #NoDAPL #BLM #SDF #DACA #MeToo #Humanity #DemExit #FeelTheBern

#JinJiyanAzadi #BijiRojava The Rojava Revolution [UPDATES]

https://sites.evergreen.edu/middleeastproject/wp-content/uploads/sites/196/2016/05/The-Rojava-Revolution.pdf

Over five years ago an uprising in Dara’a, Southern Syria, set into motion the events that would eventually culminate in the multi front Syrian Civil War we see today. Throughout the conflict one group in particular has stuck to its principles of self defense, gender equality, democratic leadership and environmental protectionism...

RELATED UPDATE: The world can learn from the Rojava revolution

https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/world-can-learn-rojava-revolution

RELATED UPDATE: Rojava University holds "Jin, Jiyan, Azadî and the revolution of the peoples" symposium

https://anfenglish.com/news/rojava-university-holds-jin-jiyan-azadi-and-the-revolution-of-the-peoples-symposium-65871

RELATED UPDATE: Women’s cooperatives overcome water wars and climate drought in Rojava

https://www.equaltimes.org/women-s-cooperatives-overcome?lang=en

RELATED UPDATE: Brazilian ballet dancer and actress finds inspiration in women’s revolution in Syria’s Rojava

https://medyanews.net/brazilian-ballet-dancer-and-actress-finds-inspiration-in-womens-revolution-in-syrias-rojava/

RELATED UPDATE: Is Rojava a socialist utopia?

https://unherd.com/2023/03/is-rojava-a-socialist-utopia/

RELATED UPDATE: Internationalist Martyrs of the Rojava Revolution -II: Sarya Özgür

https://anfenglish.com/features/internationalist-martyrs-of-the-rojava-revolution-ii-sarya-Ozgur-66308

RELATED UPDATE: 'Iranian women's uprising not first feminist revolution, we must take note of Kurdish Revolution in Syria'

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/iranian-womens-uprising-not-first-feminist-revolution-we-must-take-note-of-kurdish-revolution-in-syria/articleshow/99059080.cms?from=mdr

RELATED UPDATE: International martyrs of the Rojava Revolution - III: Emir Qubadi

https://anfenglish.com/features/international-martyrs-of-rojava-revolution-iii-emir-qubadi-66319

RELATED UPDATE: 'Counterpower' meeting at the Rojava Parliament in the Netherlands

https://anfenglish.com/news/counterpower-meeting-at-the-rojava-parliament-in-the-netherlands-66330

RELATED UPDATE: “Woman, Life, Freedom”: Syrian Women Are Rising Up Against Patriarchy

https://truthout.org/articles/woman-life-freedom-syrian-women-are-rising-up-against-patriarchy/

RELATED UPDATE: Internationalist martyrs of the Rojava Revolution – V: Albanian Uncle Karker Kobanê

https://anfenglish.com/news/international-martyrs-of-rojava-revolution-v-albanian-uncle-karker-kobane-66414

RELATED UPDATE: Evîna Kurd premiered on Sunday night

https://anfenglish.com/features/evina-kurd-series-premiered-on-sunday-night-66403

RELATED UPDATE: Internationalist martyrs of the Rojava Revolution – IX: Aryel Botan

https://anfenglish.com/features/internationalist-martyrs-of-the-rojava-revolution-ix-aryel-botan-66489

RELATED UPDATE: Rojava people embrace fighters of the freedom movement

https://anfenglish.com/rojava-syria/rojava-people-embrace-fighters-of-the-freedom-movement-66692

RELATED UPDATE: 25 April is Memorial Day for the martyrs of Rojava

https://anfenglishmobile.com/rojava-syria/25-april-is-memorial-day-for-the-fallen-of-rojava-66824

RELATED UPDATE: WATCH Tens of thousands celebrate May Day in Istanbul - UPDATE

https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/tens-of-thousands-march-in-may-day-rally-in-istanbul-66939

RELATED UPDATE: ‘The AKP-MHP regime was militarily defeated in Zap and will be politically defeated in Ankara’

https://anfenglishmobile.com/features/the-akp-mhp-regime-was-militarily-defeated-in-zap-and-will-be-politically-defeated-in-ankara-66944

RELATED UPDATE: May Day celebrated in North-East Syria

https://anfenglishmobile.com/rojava-syria/may-day-celebrated-in-north-east-syria-66945

RELATED UPDATE: YPJ pays tribute to commander Gulçiya Gabar

https://anfenglishmobile.com/rojava-syria/ypj-pays-tribute-to-commander-gulciya-gabar-66951

RELATED UPDATE: KCDK-E: Everyone should go to the polls and vote for the Green Left Party

https://anfenglishmobile.com/elections-2023/kcdk-e-everyone-should-go-to-the-polls-and-vote-for-the-green-left-party-66977

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 9.18

Holidays

Aging Awareness Day

Astronomy Day (Armenia)

Big Brothers Big Sisters Day (Canada)

Celebrate Your Name Day

Celebration of Talent (French Republic)

Chiropractic Founders Day

Clemente Day

Day of National Music (Azerbaijan)

Deceased Motorcyclists Remembrance Day (Ukraine)

Dieciocho (Chile)

Eleven Days of Global Unity, Day 8: Human Rights

European Heritage Days (EU)

Feast Day of the Walloon Region (Belgium)

Festival of Inner Worlds

Festival of Labour (French Republic)

Fiesta Patrias (Chile)

First Love Day

Global Company Culture Day

Hug a Greeting Card Writer Day

International Equal Pay Day (UN)

International Pitt Hopkins Awareness Day

International Read an eBook Day

Island Language Day (Okinawa, Japan)

Jeannie in a Bottle Day

Jitiya Parwa (Only Women Employees; Nepal)

Jonny Quest Day

Long Playing Record Day

Mickey Mantle Day (New York)

Mid-Autumn Festival Holiday (Taiwan)

Mountain Meadows Massacre Anniversary Day (by Mormon Church Members; Utah)

Mukden Incident Anniversary Day

National Cannabis Day (Germany)

National Ceiling Fan Day

National Colton Day

National Day of Civic Hacking

National Fitness Day (UK)

National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day

National Museum Day [also 5.18]

National Music Day (Azerbaijan)

National Play-Dough Day

National Rehabilitation Day

National Report Kickback Fraud Day

National Respect! Day

National Science Reading Day

National Tree Day (Canada)

Navy Day (Croatia)

New York Times Day

918 Day (Oklahoma)

Persian Literature and Pony Day (Iran)

PCOS Awareness Day

Scouring of the White Horse (Wantage, Berkshire, UK)

Shima-kutuba Day (Japan; Okinawa)

Top Ten List Day

U.S. Air Force Day

Victory of Uprona (Burgundy)

Vulver Awareness Day

World Bamboo Day

World Knot Tying Day

World Medical Ethics Day

World Water Monitoring Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Brett Day

National Cheeseburger Day

National Chocolate Day

Rice Krispies Treats Day

Independence & Related Days

Buddie Union (Declared; 2015) [unrecognized]

Chile (a.k.a. Dieciocho, 1st Gov't Junta, 1818)

Free Republic of Silbervia (Declared; 2020) [unrecognized]

3rd Wednesday in September

Banned Websites Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

Ember Day (Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches) [Wednesday after 9.14]

Human Resource Manager Day [3rd Wednesday]

Hump Day [Every Wednesday]

Mouth Cancer Awareness Day (Ireland) [3rd Wednesday]

National Attention Deficit Disorder Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

National Rehabilitation Day [3rd Wednesday]

National School Backpack Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

Quarter Tense (Ireland) [Wednesday after 9.14]

Wacky Wednesday [Every Wednesday]

Wandering Wednesday [3rd Wednesday of Each Month]

Website Wednesday [Every Wednesday]

Wiener Wednesday [3rd Wednesday of Each Month]

Weekly Holidays beginning September 18 (3rd Full Week of September)

Wear Cotton Week (thru 9.25)

Festivals Beginning September 18, 2024

Eurofurence (Hamburg, Germany) [thru 9.21]

Festival du Film Merveilleux et Imaginaire (Paris, France) [thru 9.20]

Lost Lands (Thornville, Ohio) [thru 9.22]

National Cattle Congress (Waterloo, Iowa) [thru 9.22]

Walnut Valley Festival (Winfield, Kansas) [thru 9.22]

Feast Days

Amoeba Assimilation Day (Pastafarian)

Anton Mauve (Artology)

Arcadius, Bishop of Novgorod (Christian; Saint)

Ariadne of Phrygia (Christian; Martyr)

Bidzin, Elizbar, and Shalva, Princes of Georgia (Christian; Martyrs)

Cassius Marcellus Coolidge (Artology)

Castor of Alexandria (Christian; Martyr)

Constantius (Theban Legion)

Ear Wig Fitting Day (Shamanism)

Edward Bouverie Pusey (Episcopal Church)

Eleusinian Mysteries begin (Ancient Rome; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Eugene’s, Bishop of Gortyna (Christian; Saint)

Eustorgius I (Christian; Saint)

Ferreol (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Ceres (Roman Goddess of Agriculture & Grain Crops)

Festival of Labour (French Republic)

Foundation Day (Unification Church)

Hilarion of Optima (Christian; Saint)

Joe Kubert (Artology)

John Harvey Kellogg Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

José de Rivera (Artology)

Joseph of Cupertino (Christian; Martyr)

Juan Macias (Christian; Saint)

Konstantin Kakanias (Artology)

Leonardo da Crunchy (Muppetism)

Lord Berners (Artology)

Lynn Abbey (Writerism)

Mark di Suvero (Artology)

Methodius of Olympus (Christian; Saint)

Plataia (Ancient Greece)

Richardis (Christian; Saint)

Rosmerta (Celtic Book of Days)

Samuel Johnson (Writerism)

Scouring the White Horse begins (Everyday Wicca)

Sophia and Irene of Egypt (Christian; Martyrs)

Third Nostril of Christ Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Thomas of Villanova (Christian; Saint)

Tzom Gedaliah (Fast of Gedalia; Judaism)

Vanaheim Day (Pagan)

Vondel (Positivist; Saint)

Zay Day (Sus God Zay) [Wear red or purple hoodies]

Lunar Calendar Holidays

Chong Chao (Macau)

Chusok (South Korea)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [38 of 53]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Tycho Brahe Unlucky Day (Scandinavia) [31 of 37]

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [24 of 30]

Unlucky 18th (Philippines) [3 of 3]

Premieres

Abacab, by Genesis (Album; 1981)

Abou Ben Boogie (Swing Symphony Cartoon; 1944)

The Addams Family (TV Series; 1964)

Birthday, recorded by The Beatles (Song; 1967)

A Bully Frog (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1936)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Film; 1958)

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Animated Film; 2009)

Continental Divide (Film; 1981)

Crazytown (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1959)

The Day the Earth Stood Still (Film; 1951)

Dog Daze (WB MM Cartoon; 1937)

Enough Said (Film; 2013)

The Farm of Tomorrow (MGM Cartoon; 1954)

Fatal Attraction (Film; 1987)

Five and Dime (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1933)

The French Lieutenant’s Woman (Film; 1981)

Funny Girl (Film; 1968)

Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss (Albums; 1978)

Get Smart (TV Series; 1965)

Goldfinger premiered in UK (1964) [James Bond #3]

Goo Goo Goliath (WB MM Cartoon; 1954)

The Gullible Canary (Phantasies Cartoon; 1942)

Hair Today Gone Tomorrow (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1959)

Heartache Tonight, by The Eagles (Song; 1979)

I Likes Babies and Infanks (Fleischer Cartoon Popeye Cartoon; 1937)

In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak (Children’s Book; 1970)

The Japoteurs (Fleischer Cartoon; 1942) [#10]

Jennifer’s Body (Film; 2009)

Jonny Quest (Animated TV Series; 1964)

Making Money, by Terry Pratchet (Novel; 2007) [Discworld #36]

Maple Leaf Rag, by Scott Joplin (Song; 1899)

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (Film; 2015)

The Moffatt Translation of the Bible (Bible; 1922)

More Than a Feeling,, by Boston (Song; 1976)

New York Times (Daily Newspaper; 1851)

Old Rockin’ Chair Tom (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1948)

Pain Strikes Underdog, Parts 1 & 2 (Underdog Cartoon, S2, Eps. 1 & 2 1965)

Pink in the Clink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1968)

The Road to Ruin or Mine Over Matter (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S2, Ep. 55; 1960)

Rockin’ with Judy Jetson (Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Movie; 1988)

Rush Hour (Film; 1998)

School Daze (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1942)

The Scorch Trials, by James Dashner (Novel; 2010) [Maze Runner #2]

Serve It Forth (Art of Eating), by M.F.K. Fisher (Food Essays; 1937)

Severed Relations or How to Get a Head (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S4, Ep. 161; 1962)

Sicario (Film; 2015)

Singles (Film; 1992)

Smiley Smile, by The Beach Boys (Album; 1967)

Strange Little Girl, by Tori Amos (Album; 2001)

A Streetcar Named Desire (Film; 1951)

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (TV Series; 2006)

Superman: Doomsday (WB Animated Film; 2007)

That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles or Me and My Chateau (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S4, Ep. 162; 1962)

Tired and Feathered (WB LT Cartoon; 1965)

Two Flying Ghosts or High Spirits (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S2, Ep. 56; 1960)

Wagon Train (TV Series; 1957)

War Pigs, by Black Sabbath (Song; 1970)

Where’s Wally, by Martin Hanford (Puzzle Book; 1987)

WKRP in Cincinnati (TV Series; 1978)

Today’s Name Days

Herlinda, Josef, Lambert, Rica (Austria)

Alfonz, Irena, Jonatan, Josip, Sonja (Croatia)

Kryštof, Oskar (Czech Republic)

Titus (Denmark)

Tiido, Tiidrik, Tiidu, Tiit (Estonia)

Tytti, Tyyne, Tyyni (Finland)

Nadège, Véra (France)

Alfons, Herlinde, Lambert, Rica (Germany)

Ariadne, Ariadni, Evmenis, Kastor, Romylos (Greece)

Diána (Hungary)

Eumenio, Giuseppe, Maria, Sofia (Italy)

Alinta, Elita, Gizela, Liesma (Latvia)

Galmantė, Mingailas, Stefa, Stefanija (Lithuania)

Henriette, Henry (Norway)

Dobrowit, Irena, Irma, Józef, Ryszarda, Stefania, Tytus, Zachariasz (Poland)

Eumenie (Romania)

Elizaveta, Raisa (Russia)

Eugénia (Slovakia)

José, Sofía, Sonia (Spain)

Orvar (Sweden)

Irene (Ukraine)

Clint, Clinton, Corbin, Corwin, Corwyn, Korbin, Korvin (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 262 of 2024; 104 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of Week 38 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Muin (Vine) [Day 18 of 28]

Chinese: Month 8 (Guy-You), Day 16 (Yi-You)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 15 Elul 5784

Islamic: 14 Rabi I 1446

J Cal: 22 Gold; Oneday [22 of 30]

Julian: 5 September 2024

Moon: 99%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 10 Shakespeare (10th Month) [Racine]

Runic Half Month: Ken (Illumination) [Day 12 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 91 of 94)

Week: 3rd Full Week of September

Zodiac: Virgo (Day 28 of 32)

[mariacallous]

Gender-based wage gaps are ubiquitous in U.S. labor markets, even in occupations where women make up most of the workforce. This dynamic extends to the K-12 educator workforce, where women account for roughly three quarters of the teaching workforce but make an estimated $5,000 less than men annually, based on a 2019 study using nationally representative data.  

How does such a large gender gap in earnings arise in an occupation in which uniform salary schedules are used in the vast majority of school districts? Though gender-based inequalities in teaching are smaller than what we see in other occupations, they’re still worrisome and compel us to dig deeper into this issue. We wish to both better understand where wage gaps come from and what policymakers can do to mitigate them. 

New study documents gender wage gaps among teachers  

In recognition of Equal Pay Day, this policy brief summarizes the findings of our recent study investigating gender wage gaps among public school teachers. In our study, we used survey data from the National Teacher and Principal Surveys. Our analysis provides unique insights into the different sources of school-based income for teachers. Further, the data allows us to disentangle labor supply (e.g., teachers choosing to perform extra work) from employers’ decisions to compensate them for their labor. 

Overall, we find raw gender wage gaps of about $4,000 favoring men when combining all sources of teachers’ income from schools (using 2017 dollars). This means a 7% bonus paid to women only would be needed to fully equalize pay between genders, based on reported earnings in our sample. These gaps arise from differential compensation occurring both in base salary and in supplemental compensation teachers earn from schools.  

Gender wage gaps narrow when we control for observable teacher and school characteristics, though a difference of roughly $2,200 remains—estimated to be $714 in base pay, $1,204 in extra duty pay, $180 for a non-teaching job over the summer, $80 for summer teaching, and $0 for merit pay, on average across all teachers. Importantly, our regression models cannot readily account for most of the gender gap in teachers’ income based on extra work within the school. We show men tend to be modestly more likely to participate in this extra work and are much more likely to be paid for it, especially if their school principal is also a man. Taken together, this evidence suggests these supplementary payments are more likely to reflect gender-based discrimination in comparison to base pay. 

We develop these findings below, and in the paper, we explore many facets of these wage gaps that we omit here for brevity. In summary, we conclude that these wage gaps are real and pervasive across many settings (e.g., contract restrictiveness, union strength). We argue these gaps warrant policy interventions to mitigate them, and we close with a discussion of potential policy solutions. 

Factors that contribute to gender wage gaps 

Gender wage gaps can arise for many reasons, and it’s important to try separating out their underlying causes. These causes dictate whether policy action is warranted to address these gaps. For example, gaps due to women’s personal choices to work less after school hardly merit a policy response, though a response is warranted if men are getting paid more than women for the same after-school work. This section reviews prior research on the varied factors behind wage gaps, with a focus on where discrimination is likely to occur among teachers.   

Wage gaps could arise because of differences in women’s characteristics or choices— what economists refer to as labor supply factors. For example, women may possess fewer qualifications tied to pay, may choose to work less, or may prefer jobs in lower-paying settings or assignments. Differences in these dimensions are primarily driven by different choices women make within the labor market (relative to men), and thus are unlikely to be due to discriminatory employment practices. For example, men are widely documented to sort into more competitive environments and have higher toleration of failure than women, and these personality differences lead men to systematically sort into settings that pay more or where performance influences pay. Indeed, prior research has shown teachers apparently sort across district employers consistent with these patterns. 

Wage gaps could also reflect differences in labor demand (i.e., from schools employing teachers). For example, employers might pay men more or assign men to tasks that provide more compensation. Employers who show differential treatment of male versus female employees meet the classical definition of employment discrimination. Prior experimental evidence using resumes has shown hiring managers often perceive women (especially mothers) as being less committed to work and associate men with breadwinner status; both perceptions drive managers to systematically favor men when determining pay. Similar discriminatory wage practices could occur among teachers—even with salary schedules in place—if districts reward male teachers with unearned teaching experience, for example, without giving the same to women. 

Finally, the collective bargaining context in which teachers are employed merits close consideration. Though salary schedules are commonplace across all states, the bargaining power of teacher unions and the influence they have as an intermediary of the employer-employee relationship varies considerably both across states (based on collective bargaining laws) and within states (based on union strength). Unions claim that a strong union and collective bargaining protect teachers from arbitrary staffing decisions from administrators, ensuring fair wages and benefits. Many studies have considered how teacher salaries and education spending are influenced by union power. Yet, we know of only two studies that have engaged with the question of how union strength influences gender wage gaps for teachers, both of which find unions associated with smaller gender gaps.  

Analysis 

Our analysis provides new insights into how gender wage gaps manifest among teachers. In this section, we briefly describe our methodological framework and then present three key findings that emerge. 

Methods 

The National Teacher and Principal Surveys are nationally representative and collected by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). We use results from the 2015-16 and 2017-18 school years (the most recent data available). Our analysis sample consists of all respondents who are teachers employed full and part time in K-12 public schools. We also use collective bargaining agreement context information from the National Council on Teacher Quality and extract supplemental data on school characteristics from the NCES Common Core of Data. 

Our methodology is primarily descriptive. We calculate mean differences in men’s and women’s reported earnings, across school-based income sources reported in the surveys (inflation –adjusted to 2017 dollars). We analyze five distinct school-based income sources: base pay, summer school pay (teaching and non-teaching summer jobs separately), merit pay, and taking on extra duties (e.g., leading an extracurricular activity). Reported earnings from sources outside of school are not considered in our investigation, though prior work indicates such income can be important, especially for men. We then adjust teachers’ compensation by using regression models that control for teacher demographics, qualifications, assignments, school and district characteristics, and state fixed effects.[1] Adjusted gaps reported in this brief represent the mean differences between men and women after applying these regression adjustments.  

Our analysis also comes with some limitations. Because this is self-reported data, we cannot account for differences in reporting errors between men and women. Also, we observe only reported pay differences, not inequalities in hiring decisions or job access, which may indirectly contribute to teachers’ earnings differentials. Additionally, our estimates could be influenced by teacher characteristics not included in our data that sort male teachers into schools with higher salaries.  

In the sample we use for the analysis, we see only negligible differences between men’s and women’s prior teaching experience, education, and license credentials—all of which are typical salary determinants for teachers. Yet, we see large gender differences in subject specialization, which could lead to men earning more money for filling harder-to-staff positions (e.g., men are more likely to teach in secondary grades). These subject area differences can contribute to unadjusted gender wage gaps, though in our analytical models we control for these differences and hence “explain” part of the gap. Further, meaningful shares of our observed wage gaps are explained by either state- or district-level variables, consistent with the notion that teachers’ sorting patterns across different geographical areas contributes to the unadjusted wage gaps. However, meaningful large gender wage gaps persist even within the same districts after adjustments. 

Our analysis is motivated, in part, to identify any differential treatment by gender. We cannot directly observe unfair behavior with our survey data, though we attempt to uncover differential employer treatment in two ways: uncompensated extra work and differential treatment by a male principal. The results we present below suggest employee discrimination is partially responsible for the gender wage gaps we observe, at least in supplemental compensation. 

Finding 1: All school income sources show gender wage gaps; most troublesome in extra duty pay 

We observe unadjusted wage gaps favoring men exist in all income categories (see Figure 2, blue bars). When adjusting wages by a variety of individual, teaching assignment, school, and state differences, estimated gender gaps across all income sources narrow, though to varying degrees (yellow bars). The sizes of the adjustments are themselves meaningful, as they represent observable teacher differences that can be reasonably explained, including the labor supply differences described above. For example, the raw gap in base pay is $2,039, similar to the gap in extra duty pay. Though after controlling for all observable factors, the gap in base pay shrinks by nearly two thirds (to $714), suggesting most of the original pay gap is explained by gender differences in labor supply (e.g., men working in higher-paying assignments or contexts).  

Gaps that remain after these adjustments are much more likely to be suggestive of discrimination, which we primarily observe in compensation from other sources. The bars for extra duties and non-teaching summer work, for example, do not shrink nearly as much in the regression adjustment and are estimated to be over $1,000. The estimated gap in merit pay is no longer statistically significant after these adjustments. 

Finding 2: Differential compensation in extra duty pay suggests discrimination

We cannot directly observe unfair compensation practices among the survey responses, as we discussed above. Despite this limitation, we look for evidence of unfair practices empirically by aggregating across survey respondents and detecting patterns that arise consistent with theoretical predictions about how they could manifest. We look for these differences in two ways, both of which point to the presence of unfair pay practices among teachers.  

First, we look at participating in uncompensated extra work. One of the survey waves (the 2015-16 collection) gathered data on both those participating in extra duties beyond their base salary and those getting paid for them. Though most teachers (82%) report participating in these activities, less than half (44%) are paid specifically for the effort. As illustrated in Figure 3, men are both more likely to report participating in these tasks (on the left) and to report being paid for them, conditional on doing them (on the right). Notably, we estimate these differences at different teacher ages (along the x-axis of both panels) and find statistically significant gaps in participation during teachers’ 20s through early 40s. For example, male teachers are 12 percentage points more likely to participate in extra duties than their female peers when they are 21 to 30 years old, and seven percentage points more likely when they are 31 to 36 years old. This also happens to coincide with ages when women’s fertility peaks and they often have young children in the household. After having kids, women normally take on a larger share of household responsibilities than their male counterparts. Thus, we suspect caregiving activities are the most likely difference in explaining the gendered differential in labor supply we observe during these ages.  

However, these differences in labor supply do not explain the gendered difference in the likelihood of being compensated for the extra work shown in the right panel—which shows up consistently and in similar magnitudes across all ages. Similar patterns of women disproportionately performing extra work (often uncompensated) to support employer needs are also observed among college professors and in laboratory settings. 

Note that this figure does not include actual wages, but simply whether teachers get paid for the extra work they perform. It is hypothetically possible that male teachers systematically take on more demanding jobs (with corresponding pay), while women take on less demanding jobs (with low or no pay). Therefore, differences in hours worked could explain observed gaps in supplemental compensation. Our investigation, however, suggests this is unlikely as even among those performing similar duties, wage gaps are evident. Figure 4 below shows the differences in compensation between male and female athletic coaches, student group sponsors, and school committee members. Overall, we find that male coaches and student group sponsors are paid more than their female counterparts with similar characteristics, earning $1,647 more and $1,009 more respectively. For school committee members, we find no wage gap once we adjust for observable characteristics. We also explored whether differences in the number of hours worked could be driving these earning differentials. The change in the magnitude of the gap is negligible when we account for reported hours worked, suggesting that the supply of labor does little to explain the earnings gap between these groups of teachers. 

Next, we look to see whether wage gaps are sensitive to the gender of the school principal. Our investigation here is motivated by prior work uncovering differential principal treatment of teachers by race and gender. Figure 5 is an interactive data visualization that reports the differential likelihood for men to report income by type (on the left axis) versus the reported extra pay (on the right axis), when estimated separately by principal gender. Across the different income types reported here, male teachers show an increase in their probability of receiving payment for their extra work when they have a male principal. The change in the value of the adjusted gender wage gap varies across income sources, with extra duty pay seeing the largest bump favoring men. These compensation decisions that favor male teachers under male principals’ supervision may point towards preferential employee treatment. Recent research has found male teachers are more likely to leave a school if a principal is female and tend to sort to schools led by men. Our findings suggest that differential compensation could be a potential driver of these mobility patterns and likely help to prop up the gender wage gaps we observe. 

Use Figure 5 to explore the differences in compensation likelihood and amount for male and female teachers under principals of different genders. 

Finding 3: Gender wage gaps shape-shift depending on the union context 

Finally, we investigate how the collective bargaining context and union strength might influence gender wage gaps. We combine the state’s collective bargaining regime (whether collective bargaining agreements, CBAs, are permissible or not) with a variable on district size to serve as a proxy for union strength and more restrictive contracts for employers. Prior work on the strength of teacher unions finds district size to be an important predictor of contract restrictiveness. This categorization results in four categories of union strength: small districts in non-CBA states, small districts in CBA states, large districts in non-CBA states, and large districts in CBA states. 

Results from this investigation, presented in Figure 6, show that gender wage gaps are present in all the various categories, though they manifest differently across contexts. Small districts in non-CBA states (where we expect union influence on the contract to be lowest) have large regression-adjusted gender wage gaps in extra duty pay and relatively smaller wage gaps in base pay. Conversely, large districts in CBA states (highest union influence) have small wage gaps in extra duty pay but comparably larger gaps in base pay. In other words, the results suggest gender wage gaps favoring men are present in all settings, though the method through which men receive their extra pay systematically differs across collective bargaining contexts. The data do not allow us to say why, for example, wage gaps are higher in base pay versus extra duty pay in places we expect union influence to be strongest; future work is needed to understand the reason for the development of the gender wage gap in this dimension. 

Policy discussion  

Male teachers earn $2,200 more than female teachers of similar contexts and with comparable qualifications. These gaps are small by comparison to other professions but warrant policy attention since teachers  are government workers and constitute one of the largest professions in the country. Other public workers have similar wage gaps: A study from the Government Accountability Office shows that the estimated unexplained wage gap among federal workers has remained relatively constant throughout the last two decades, suggesting that unobservable factors (including potential discrimination) continue to thwart progress toward equal pay.  

Historically, government workers have been some of the first to implement policies aimed at improving gender and racial differences in employment and compensation. Notable examples include the adoption of equal-pay policies (at least on paper) for New York City teachers in 1912. The fact that we see these wage gaps persisting more than a century later, despite the dominance of the salary schedules that arose from these equal-pay policies, is evidence that more remains to be done to close these gaps. If we desire public workers, including teachers, to lead the way on closing gender wage gaps, what tools can be used to help equalize wages? We consider potential solutions in this section and offer commentary about their likely success among teachers (ordered from most to least promising).  

A fact sheet produced by the National Women’s Law Center details recently enacted legislation geared towards reducing the gender wage gap, which offers several possible solutions. Other ideas are drawn from the education literature. Though many of these measures are still largely experimental, and thus their efficacy is not well vetted, we will be drawing on available evidence both inside and outside education settings to contextualize their feasibility for reducing wage gaps among teachers.  

Before considering possible solutions, we should briefly recognize the biological and cultural context that contributes to the staying power of these wage gaps. On the biological side, women’s fertility peaks during the same ages in which individuals are typically developing human capital and their career trajectories. Women stepping out of the workforce temporarily for childrearing during this period of career development is frequently cited as a major contributor to gender wage gaps—not just for the duration of the pause but for years afterwards. The reason for the permanence of the childrearing penalty, however, bleeds into the cultural side of the ledger as childcare responsibilities among parents continue to fall heavily on women’s shoulders and persist for years while children live at home (patterns that were exacerbated during the pandemic). Further, as discussed above, women tend to express personality traits that serve to decrease women’s wages in comparison to men’s: less competitive, lower willingness to tolerate failure, and more agreeable. These gender differences are presumably the result of cultural, rather than biological, forces shaping women’s roles and dispositions in ways that combine to disadvantage them in the labor market. Thus, even though we discuss policy solutions intended to close gender wage gaps among teachers, we must recognize that full equality will likely require change in these cultural contexts, too.  

Increased pay transparency  

Gender wage gaps occur in districts, so district-level payroll practices could be a promising avenue for countering them. School districts are often large bureaucratic entities that process many thousands of transactions annually, obscuring how individual payments contribute to inequalities. Requiring school districts to regularly collect and report high-level patterns in payroll data, with a focus on gender equality, will bring transparency into payroll spending. Further, districts could create policies governing supplemental pay that articulate a common set of criteria. For example, a district-wide policy that prescribes extracurricular sponsors’ expected qualifications, skills, duties, and compensation could reduce the opportunity for preferential treatment. A new study found that the implementation of pay transparency systems in academia narrowed gender pay gaps over time, suggesting that increasing transparency is a promising tool to level the playing field among teachers.  

Strengthening collective bargaining agreements to include supplemental compensation 

Some practices already utilized in schools could be modified or strengthened to mitigate gender wage gaps, and we believe more explicit language in collective bargaining agreements could be a part of the solution. For example, gender wage gaps increased among Wisconsin teachers in the wake of recent changes to state bargaining laws, suggesting their role in equalizing pay. Our report shows that the largest driver of gender wage gaps among teachers is compensation for extra duties ($714 for base pay vs. $1,762 for extra duties), and The National Council on Teacher Quality reports that only six states mandate this category of pay to be included in CBAs. Broader inclusion of supplemental duty pay in union contract negotiations may consequently narrow the gender wage gap among teachers. Note, however, that even while we found lower wage gaps in extra duties in stronger union contexts, we also found higher gaps in base pay. Unions (and districts they are negotiating with) should try to close opportunities for gender wage gaps through all compensation pathways simultaneously to avoid payments that simply shape-shift to fit new contract constraints. 

Salary history bans 

A salary history ban prohibits employers from accessing information about a new hire’s past compensation when determining their pay. In theory, if a worker has been unfairly compensated in the past, then using salary histories would perpetuate gaps across employers; though opponents argue productivity-related differentials will also be lost in implementing bans. Salary history bans, whether in public jobs only or across all occupations, have been implemented in a growing number of states since 2017. Some evidence on the effectiveness of banning salary histories points in the direction of reducing the gender wage gap, though the effect seems to be targeted to new hires and job changers. Other work concludes that salary history bans narrow gender wage gaps in the private sector. With this evidence, we suspect salary history bans for teachers may help, especially in settings where individual bargaining is less constrained. Adopting bans covering supplemental pay may also reduce gaps on the margin and merits further exploration.  

Participatory budgeting  

Since district or school leaders have high leverage in contributing to gender pay gaps, changes in budgeting practices may also reduce payment differentials. Participatory budgeting is a relatively novel approach to budgeting, where members of the community offer input on how to allocate a portion of a public institution’s budget, with recent examples including schools. Schools can invite parents, community members, and teachers into the decision-making process, offering input into what types of after-school work should get compensated (and how much). This process should steer spending decisions towards the community’s benefit and may mitigate biased salary allocations otherwise determined by a single school leader (e.g., paying excessive compensation for male coaches). We know of no evidence of participatory budgeting’s effect on wage gaps, though the importance of supplemental payments off the salary schedule leads us to believe that this could be an effective lever for narrowing gaps among teachers. The extent to which this policy lever reduces wage gaps would depend on how much discretion principals have over their budgets, and districts could adopt more participatory budgeting in settings where principals’ discretion is limited. We encourage future work to explore budgeting practices and their interaction with community-level input.   

Paid parental and family leave 

This is a common policy lever used to advance gender equity broadly. To our knowledge, very few school districts offer paid parental leave to their employees, and our findings show female teachers are less likely than men to participate in extra duties during their prime childrearing years. Providing more generous and equal parental leave for male and female teachers could potentially reduce the gender wage gap through equating labor supply by reducing the supply of male teachers. For example, an evaluation of the short-term effects of the introduction of paid parental leave legislation in California during 2004 found the law increased the likelihood of the father taking leave during their child’s first year by nearly 50%. Yet, these changes in male labor supply were temporary and strongest at the birth of the first child. Another study examined the same leave policy focusing on mothers’ employment and found an 8% reduction in their earnings six to ten years after giving birth, which suggests long-term increases in wage gaps. Based on this evidence, we are pessimistic about the use of paid family leave as a mechanism for reducing gender wage gaps. Of course, this policy may offer important benefits and support for teachers as they balance family and work responsibilities, but we see little reason to believe they will permanently narrow gender wage gaps.  

Gender wage gaps influence pensions 

Finally, we must acknowledge that compensation policies feed into pension systems. Hence, gender pay gaps are made permanent in retirement through pension plans. Gender differences in retirement preparation and assets is a growing area of public concern, and the teacher workforce is not immune. A 2018 study focusing on Nevada teachers finds that disproportionately female teachers included in state employee retirement plans generally subsidize the pensions of higher-paid, disproportionately male workers from other occupations. Given the unequal promotion of male teachers into higher-paying administration roles, even if education pension systems were isolated from other government occupations, large pension gaps would still persist. Teacher pension plans in most states have many shortcomings, as prior analysts have reported, including inflexibility and insufficient funding. A full discussion of pension reform ideas is beyond the scope of this brief, though we want to elevate how gender earnings gaps may be perpetuated through pension policies.  

Conclusion

Gender wage gaps persist among teachers, with male teachers earning $2,200 more than female teachers of similar characteristics. Supplemental school-based compensation plays a lead role in these gaps. Average male teachers earn $1,700 more in extra duty pay than their female colleagues with similar qualifications and in comparable contexts. We also find a gender gap in the likelihood of receiving payment for performing extra duties and being compensated for them. Men are even more likely to be paid for this extra work when the principal at the teacher’s school is male. These income sources off the salary schedule provide the most likely avenue for gender-based wage discrimination among teachers. Our results are in line with prior work examining wage gaps among principals both at the national and state level.   

We then explore the potential of a battery of policies to reduce the gender wage gap. Among these, we argue that increasing pay transparency and including supplemental pay in collective bargaining agreements have the most potential to achieve pay equality. Additionally, salary history bans and participatory budgeting hold promise and warrant further exploration. We note that this report reveals areas where gender discrimination may be taking place among teachers, not whether a discriminatory act has occurred. Further research, particularly audits, would be useful in exposing these instances. 

Teachers are critical for many reasons, including their influence on students. They deserve to be adequately compensated for the work they do leading our nation’s classrooms, regardless of their gender.

[bitchesgetriches]

On poverty:

Starting from nothing

How To Start at Rock Bottom: Welfare Programs and the Social Safety Net

How to Save for Retirement When You Make Less Than $30,000 a Year

Ask the Bitches: “Is It Too Late to Get My Financial Shit Together?“

Understanding why people are poor

It’s More Expensive to Be Poor Than to Be Rich

Why Are Poor People Poor and Rich People Rich?

On Financial Discipline, Generational Poverty, and Marshmallows

Bitchtastic Book Review: Hand to Mouth by Linda Tirado

Is Gentrification Just Artisanal, Small-Batch Displacement of the Poor?

Coronavirus Reveals America’s Pre-existing Conditions, Part 1: Healthcare, Housing, and Labor Rights

Developing compassion for poor people

The Latte Factor, Poor Shaming, and Economic Compassion

Ask the Bitches: “How Do I Stop Myself from Judging Homeless People?“

The Subjectivity of Wealth, Or: Don’t Tell Me What’s Expensive

A Little Princess: Intersectional Feminist Masterpiece?

If You Can’t Afford to Tip 20%, You Can’t Afford to Dine Out

Correcting income inequality

1 Easy Way All Allies Can Help Close the Gender and Racial Pay Gap

One Reason Women Make Less Money? They’re Afraid of Being Raped and Killed.

Raising the Minimum Wage Would Make All Our Lives Better

Are Unions Good or Bad?

On intersectional social issues:

Reproductive rights

On Pulling Weeds and Fighting Back: How (and Why) to Protect Abortion Rights

How To Get an Abortion

Blood Money: Menstrual Products for Surviving Your Period While Poor

You Don’t Have to Have Kids

Gender equality

1 Easy Way All Allies Can Help Close the Gender and Racial Pay Gap

The Pink Tax, Or: How I Learned to Love Smelling Like “Bearglove”

Our Single Best Piece of Advice for Women (and Men) on International Women’s Day

Bitchtastic Book Review: The Feminist Financial Handbook by Brynne Conroy

Sexual Harassment: How to Identify and Fight It in the Workplace

Queer issues

Queer Finance 101: Ten Ways That Sexual and Gender Identity Affect Finances

Leaving Home before 18: A Practical Guide for Cast-Offs, Runaways, and Everybody in Between

Racial justice

The Financial Advantages of Being White

Woke at Work: How to Inject Your Values into Your Boring, Lame-Ass Job

The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander: A Bitchtastic Book Review

Something Is Wrong in Personal Finance. Here’s How To Make It More Inclusive.

The Biggest Threat to Black Wealth Is White Terrorism

Coronavirus Reveals America’s Pre-existing Conditions, Part 2: Racial and Gender Inequality

10 Rad Black Money Experts to Follow Right the Hell Now

Youth issues

What We Talk About When We Talk About Student Loans

The Ugly Truth About Unpaid Internships

Ask the Bitches: “I Just Turned 18 and My Parents Are Kicking Me Out. How Do I Brace Myself?”

Identifying and combatting abuse

When Money is the Weapon: Understanding Intimate Partner Financial Abuse

Are You Working on the Next Fyre Festival?: Identifying a Toxic Workplace

Ask the Bitches: “How Do I Say ‘No’ When a Loved One Asks for Money… Again?”

Ask the Bitches: I Was Guilted Into Caring for a Sick, Abusive Parent. Now What?

On mental health:

Understanding mental health issues

How Mental Health Affects Your Finances

Stop Recommending Therapy Like It’s a Magic Bean That’ll Grow Me a Beanstalk to Neurotypicaltown

Bitchtastic Book Review: Kurt Vonnegut’s Galapagos and Your Big Brain

Ask the Bitches: “How Do I Protect My Own Mental Health While Still Helping Others?”

Coping with mental health issues

{ MASTERPOST } Everything You Need to Know about Self-Care

My 25 Secrets to Successfully Working from Home with ADHD

Our Master List of 100% Free Mental Health Self-Care Tactics

On saving the planet:

Changing the system

Don’t Boo, Vote: If You Don’t Vote, No One Can Hear You Scream

Ethical Consumption: How to Pollute the Planet and Exploit Labor Slightly Less

The Anti-Consumerist Gift Guide: I Have No Gift to Bring, Pa Rum Pa Pum Pum

Season 1, Episode 4: “Capitalism Is Working for Me. So How Could I Hate It?”

Coronavirus Reveals America’s Pre-existing Conditions, Part 1: Healthcare, Housing, and Labor Rights

Coronavirus Reveals America’s Pre-existing Conditions, Part 2: Racial and Gender Inequality

Shopping smarter

You Deserve Cheap Toilet Paper, You Beautiful Fucking Moon Goddess

You Are above Bottled Water, You Elegant Land Mermaid

Fast Fashion: Why It’s Fucking up the World and How To Avoid It

You Deserve Cheap, Fake Jewelry… Just Like Coco Chanel

6 Proven Tactics for Avoiding Emotional Impulse Spending

[perfectlyyoungtimetravel]

Throwback Thursdays

Today I drew Coretta Scott King, she was Martin Luther King's wife. Today I'll be talking about The Charleston Hospital Strike that happened between March 19th and June 27th on 1969. So in Charleston, South Carolina, at the Charleston Hospital,there were hundreds of African American hospital workers that unfortunately didn't have equal payment because of race, racial discrimination and racial segregation. On March 17th a group of African American employees at Medical College Hospital (Now known as Medical University of South Carolina) met with hospital president William McCord in his office to discuss their concerns and grievances with him. But after the meeting, the Charleston Police Chief John Conroy threatened to arrest the employees when they returned to work to which reasonably the employees got scared and worried of to the point 12 employees were fired because they abandoned their patients at the end of their shifts. On March 19th hundreds of African American employees had enough and went on strike (predominantly female), to demand the reinstatement of their coworkers and official recognition of their union. A week later, more than 60 African American employees at the Charleston County Hospital walked off their jobs and joined the strike. Medical College officials secured an injunction prohibiting picketing within hours of the walkout. And in response Naomi White and a handful of close associates formed a support group called Hell's Angels, which visited workers at their homes to impress upon them the importance of maintaining strike discipline. South Carolina Governor Robert McNair prohibited The Medical College and Charleston County Hospital from compromising with the strikers and even urged them to avoid anything that would appear to be collective bargaining. On April 25th McNair declared a state of emergency and ordered more than 1,000 state of troopers and National Guardsmen to Charleston. And he also imposed a 9 PM to 5 AM curfew. And in response to that, the strike organizers held nighttime demonstrations, and law enforcement officials responded by arresting hundreds of strikers, their family members and large numbers of students. As the strike continued, some of them were attacked unfortunately. And one of the union organizer's hotel room was FIREBOMBED (seriously wtf), and there were other acts of vandalism and fires. But luckily, strike leaders gained support from well-known civil rights activists, including Coretta Scott King.Ralph Abernathy,Andrew Young and allies of Martin Luther King in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, joined Coretta Scott King in supporting the strike. On April 29th, Coretta Scott King addressed a mass rally at Emanuel AME Church. She stated 'I feel that Black woman in our nation, the Black working woman, is perhaps the most discriminated against of all of the working women', after the speech she led a 2,000 person march. On Mother's Day, over 10,000 people, including 5 US Congressmen, marched from the Charleston County Hall auditorium to the Medical College. On that march the strike led local business leaders to call for negotiations. And on June 27th on 1969, the strike was settled. The Medical College Hospital promised to rehire strikers including the 12 employees who had been fired a following week. And even increased their pay. If you guys want there's even a documentary about this strike called 'I Am Somebody' which was directed by Madeline Anderson.

Source:

See ya' tomorrow!

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 19 July 1883, thousands of telegraphers working for Western Union across the United States walked out on strike demanding equal pay for equal work for men and women, along with other demands, like a pay increase and an eight-hour day. The bosses had threatened the previous day that if equal pay were implemented, it would mean that they would prefer to just use men, who they alleged "can be availed of for a greater variety of service than women". The workers, organised in the Brotherhood of Telegraphers, ignored the threats and after management failed to respond to them, walked out. The strike began when Frank R. Phillips stood on a table in the New York office and blew a whistle. Beginning in major cities, the strike spread to rural areas. In Concord, North Carolina, the lone operator Mary Ormand walked out, and the Home and Democrat newspaper reported her office was shut and wires cut by Western Union as they "could not persuade the brave Miss Ormand to be false to her womanhood." In total around 8,000 workers across the country participated in the strike, including between 300 and 1,000 women. Western Union was determined to break the workers, and decided to try to starve them back to work. The strikers had hoped to received support from the Knights of Labor union, but when this did not occur, the strikers were eventually forced to return to work defeated after their funds ran out. Some managers decided not to rehire strike activists, although some strikers refused to return on principle. One woman told a reporter "I will never touch a key again in my life… I would rather cut off my right hand than humiliate myself by asking for my old place." More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9099/western-union-telegraphers-strike https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=664607852379100&set=a.602588028581083&type=3