By Public Policy Chair

Marilyn Treiman

halamari1@juno.com
Text Box: Public Policy Text Box: Volume 29, Number 9 May, 2009 Page # Text Box: AAUW, the WAGE Project Join Forces to Address Equal Pay   AAUW and The WAGE Project have announced the formation of a partnership to ensure that women graduating from college start their careers knowing how to negotiate for fair and equal pay. This partnership will offer $tart $mart Campus Negotiation Workshops to 500 college campuses over the next three years.   These nuts-and-bolts workshops, piloted by WAGE in 2007 and 2008 on more than 60 campuses, will be presented by trained AAUW facilitators. AAUW and WAGE urge all campuses in the nation to offer this valuable workshop, which can serve as a powerful influence in the lives of young women.   The gender wage gap begins as early as the first year after a woman graduates from college, according to AAUW's research report, Behind the Pay Gap. A decade after graduation, it widens. In fact, AAUW found that the gap is clear even when women have the same major and occupation as their Text Box: male counterparts.   Over a 40-year career, college-educated women will have an average lifetime loss of roughly $1 million. In higher-paying fields, such as law, the wage gap can result in even greater lifetime losses - and long-term significantly impact retirement and Social Security income.  Nationwide, working families lose $200 billion of income annually to the gender wage gap. And as benefits, raises, and job offers are typically based on current earnings, a fair wage at the beginning of a career can help set the stage for lifetime equity.   "$tart $mart Campus Negotiation Workshops combine the vast membership of AAUW with the innovation of WAGE workshops to advance pay equity for working women," said AAUW Executive Director Linda D. Hallman, CAE. "AAUW is well known for fighting to close the wage gap through our efforts on Capitol Hill and our other advocacy work. With these workshops, we will be on the front lines, mentoring young women to become their own best advocates." Text Box: "Empowering college women with knowledge and tools to counteract the reality of the gender wage gap is the objective of The WAGE Project's $tart $mart Campus Negotiation Workshops. WAGE is thrilled to have this opportunity to partner with AAUW members to bring $tart $mart workshops to women in colleges, community colleges, and universities throughout the United States. When these women graduate, they will have a better chance to get the paychecks they deserve," said Evelyn Murphy, president of WAGE.   The gender pay gap persists because of inadequate knowledge about its devastating impact and causes, inequitable treatment of working women, and women's lack of knowledge about negotiating for a fair and equal salary. Negotiating salaries is a challenge for women at all stages of their careers, but it is an essential tool-along with stronger anti-discrimination laws and better enforcement of existing policies-to achieving economic security for women and their families.