Women and Raises -Letter to NY Times Editor
Posted by bneufeld on May 25, 2010 at 16:32 pm
EPCNYC member DINA BAKST’S May 17 letter to NYT:
“A Toolkit for Women Seeking a Raise” (Your Money column, Business Day, May 15) rightly points out that women — now the breadwinners in nearly two-thirds of American families — need to learn the art of negotiation when seeking a raise.
Unfortunately, the article doesn’t mention an important point: many employers require employees not to discuss their pay with their co-workers, and employees fear retaliation for going against those instructions. For this reason, as Stuart J. Ishimaru, acting chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, stated in his March 11 testimony before Congress, many women earn less for potentially discriminatory reasons without even knowing it. Mothers are especially hard hit.
While learning the art of negotiation is helpful, women need more, including more transparent wage information and tougher anti-discrimination laws, including the ability to share salary information without penalty. As a first step, let’s pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would help end salary secrecy and significantly strengthen a woman’s ability to earn what she deserves.
Dina Bakst - New York, May 17, 2010
The writer is co-founder and co-president of A Better Balance: The Work and Family Legal Center, a legal advocacy group that promotes women’s rights in the workplace. A Better Balance is a member of the Equal Pay Coalition NYC
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