[412] MTSU Blue Turns Red As Equity Pay Day Observed On Campus

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 13, 2010EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

MTSU BLUE TURNS RED AS EQUITY PAY DAY OBSERVED ON CAMPUS
American Women and Minorities Still Struggle for Equal Pay for Equal Work

(MURFREESBORO) – Red will be the color of the day at MTSU on Tuesday, April 20, as the June Anderson Women’s Center, the American Association of University Women, the Women’s Studies Program and the President’s Commission on the Status of Women observe Equity Pay Day.
From 11 a.m.-2 p.m., volunteers on the Keathley University Center knoll will pass out Payday candy bars and informational literature to enlighten the public about the pay equity issue. Information tables will be covered in red cloth and workers will wear red. Members of the campus community also are encouraged to wear red to symbolize how far women and minorities are “in the red.”
“Achieving equity in the workplace is fair, and everybody should have a fair chance to succeed in life,” says Terri Johnson, director of the Women’s Center. “I feel that one of the cruelest things we can do to people is place them at a disadvantage and them blame them for their own inequity.”
In 2008, the median annual earnings of year-round, full-time male workers in the United States were $46,367, compared with $35,745 for women, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That means each woman earned only 77 cents for every dollar a man earned. Median earnings for African-American women were $31,489 per year, or 67.9 cents on the dollar, and median earnings for Latinas were $26,846 per year, or 58 cents on the dollar compared to men’s earnings. Asian-American women’s median annual earnings were $42,215, or 91 cents for each dollar of men’s earnings.
“Equal pay will make the workplace more competitive and attract the very best employees,” says Johnson. “Setting high standards for employees will help employers become more successful overall. This is especially crucial now in a struggling economy because, in the end, the company will save money.”
In addition, the student groups “Women in Action” and “Women’s Studies Student Organization” will conduct “Inequity Bake Sales.” For more information, contact the Women’s Center at 615-898-2193 or jawc@mtsu.edu.

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With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s