 |
| (Image by Paul Whiting) |
"What's the 411? Equal Work...Equal Pay!"
Today—like every day—ask yourself this
very important question: "What's the 411?"
In other words, "What's the information?"
And the "411"—or the information—is
that "Equal Work Deserves Equal Pay!"
-Paul Whiting
(a.k.a., A Creative Writer)
"I maybe say too much about how life really is!"
My Writing Notes:
The reason that I wrote this poem can be summed up with the following statement: On my "Small All White in the Forest" blog, I wrote the following statement on April 11th, 2013: "Amid a varitable swirl of self-imposed activities, I totally forgot to publish a post that I had prepared for Equal Pay Day! Thus, I am providing the same basic information, or the same basic "411," if you will, from the National Committee on Pay Equity (please see below) in order to compensate for my error!"
And this year, I decided to republish this post about "Equal Work...Equal Pay" on April 11th, 2022, just like I did nine years ago on April 11th, 2013, in order to symbolize "how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year." However, the good news is that Equal Pay Day this year was on March 15th, 2022, which is "the earliest we have ever marked the occasion."*
And this poem was also published on my "Small All White in the Forest" blog (please see the hyperlink below for the blog), since I feel that the message in this poem applies to the message that I am trying to convey through "Small All White in the Forest."
This poem was written in Portland, Oregon.
-Paulee
https://smallallwhiteintheforest.blogspot.com
"Equal Pay Day" [2013] from the National Committee on Pay Equity:
"Wear RED on Equal Pay Day to symbolize how far women and minorities are 'in the red' with their pay!
The next Equal Pay Day is Tuesday, April 9, 2013. This date symbolizes how far into 2013 women must work to earn what men earned in 2012.
Equal Pay Day was originated by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) in 1996 as a public awareness event to illustrate the gap between men's and women's wages.
Since Census statistics showing the latest wage figures will not be available until late August or September, NCPE leadership decided years ago to select a Tuesday in April as Equal Pay Day. (Tuesday was selected to represent how far into the work week women must work to earn what men earned the previous week.) The date also is selected to avoid avoid religious holidays and other significant events.
Because women earn less, on average, than men, they must work longer for the same amount of pay. The wage gap is even greater for most women of color."
https://www.pay-equity.org/day.html
"Equal Pay Day" [2022] from the National Committee on Pay Equity:
"Wear RED on Equal Pay Day to symbolize how far women and minorities are 'in the red' with their pay!
The next Equal Pay Day is Tuesday, March 15, 2022.
This date symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.
Equal Pay Day was originated by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) in 1996 as a public awareness event to illustrate the gap between men's and women's wages. (It was originally called 'National Pay Inequity Awareness Day' and changed to Equal Pay Day in 1998.)
Since Census statistics showing the latest wage figures will not be available until late August or September, NCPE leadership decided years ago to select a Tuesday in April as Equal Pay Day. (Tuesday was selected to represent how far into the next work week women must work to earn what men earned the previous week.) The date also is selected to avoid religious holidays and other significant events.
Because women earn less, on average, than men, they must work longer for the same amount of pay. The wage gap is even greater for most women of color."
https://www.pay-equity.org/day.html
*"A Proclamation on National Equal Pay Day, 2022" from The White House:
"Equal pay is a matter of justice, fairness, and dignity — it is about living up to our values and who we are as a Nation. For over 25 years, Equal Pay Day has helped draw attention to gender-based pay disparities by highlighting how far into a new year a woman must work, on average, to earn what a man did in the previous year.
This year, Equal Pay Day falls on March 15, the earliest we have ever marked the occasion. The earlier that Equal Pay Day arrives, the closer our Nation has come to achieving pay fairness. But while we should celebrate the progress we have made, as I have said in the past, we should not be satisfied until Equal Pay Day is no longer necessary at all..."
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/03/14/a-proclamation-on-national-equal-pay-day-2022
This "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer" Post No. 184 was edited on January 15th, 2023.
"Poetry is using the fewest words possible in order to describe all that is possible to describe." –Paul Whiting [June 1st, 2022]
