EMPLOYMENT ISSUE REPORT

Spring 2004

LOCAL:

Equal Pay:             

            The Chicago NOW Ed Fund is working on a Equal Pay Day bake sale.

NATIONAL:

Equal Pay:

 A Congressional study published late last year indicates that women are paid an average 

of 79.7 cents for every dollar paid to men, versus 80.4 cents in 1983.  Another study by the 

National Association for Female Executives found a gap in the salaries of men and women with 

identical jobs and experience, even in professions dominated by women such as teaching, nursing, 

and public relations.  Their annual salary survey found that men earn an average of $10,000 a 

year more than women.  

Women in Academia:

The first comprehensive national analysis of college faculty positions at the nation’s top math, 

science, and engineering departments found that only between 3 percent and 15 percent of full professors 

at those schools are women, even though the percentage of women attaining doctorates during the last 

20 years is substantially higher.

Women in Media:

 A report from the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania has 

found that very few women hold told jobs at Fortune 500 media companies.  Fox, not surprisingly, 

has no women in their top positions and no women on their board.  Another study found a s

substantial gender wage gap for women in media.  

Civil Rights Bill

A bill recently introduced before Congress is designed to fix some of the most persistent problems 

faced by those bringing employment discrimination lawsuits, and will correct some of the most 

damaging recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions.  Please call or e-mail your congressperson 

and Senator Durbin and ask them to support FAIRNESS: the Civil Rights Act of 2004.