[367]“EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK” IS WORK IN PROGRESS, SAY MTSU WOMEN

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 2, 2008EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

“EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK” IS WORK IN PROGRESS, SAY MTSU WOMEN
Pay Equity Day Scheduled to Enlighten Campus Community about Gender Pay Gap

(MURFREESBORO) – The American Association of University Women (AAUW), the June Anderson Women’s Center, the Women’s Studies Program and the President’s Commission on the Status of Women will observe Pay Equity Day at MTSU on Tuesday, April 22, to draw attention to the continuing inequities in men’s and women’s wages in the United States. This event is free and open to the public. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., volunteers will hand out literature about the pay gap between men and women. Buttons and free gifts also will be available, as well as Payday candy bars. At 2:40 p.m. Dr. Ayne Cantrell, professor emeritus and president of the Murfreesboro branch of the AAUW, will present a lecture titled “Behind the Pay Gap: How Far Have Women Come?” in Room 100 of the James Union Building. Cantrell will discuss AAUW’s recent findings about the pay gap followed by a reception. In Tennessee, the median annual earnings for a man with a four-year college degree total $57,484, while those of a woman in similar circumstances are $41,985. That means that women in Tennessee with the same educational background as men earn 27 percent less money, according to an Aug. 5, 2007 article in the Knoxville News-Sentinel. For the country as a whole, a typical college-educated man working full-time earns $62,000 a year, compared to $46,000 annually for a typical college-educated woman. Over a 30-year career, that translates to a difference of nearly $500,000, according to Women’s Educational Gains and the Gender Earnings Gap, a 2007 AAUW Educational Foundation publication. For more information, contact Cantrell at acantrell@comcast.net ; Dr. Tina Johnson, president of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women at 615-898-2705; Terri Johnson at the Women’s Center at 615-898-2193 or trjohnso@mtsu.edu; or Dr. Elyce Helford, director of the Women’s Studies Program at 615-898-5910 or ehelford@mtsu.edu.
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