Parity-the state or condition of being the same
in power, value, rank, equality.

	Average Woman Worker Loses Nearly Half a Million to Pay Discrimination by: Press Associates, Inc. Monday 29 December 2008 via truthout.org Gadsen, Alabama - Lilly Ledbetter, the longtime Goodyear tire supervisor whose pay discrimination case against her firm went all the way to the Supreme Court, lost $223,776 in lifetime earnings due to 19 years of discrimination at the tire firm's Gadsden, Ala., plant, a new report says. As it turns out, Ledbetter, who lost her case before the Supreme Court, was somewhere between average and lucky. Her earnings loss was half the national average of lifetime earnings losses, $434,000 per woman, that female workers suffer compared to male counterparts in the same jobs. But Ledbetter's Goodyear career covered only half of the gentle gray-haired grandmother's working life. Take those 19 years and double them, and Lilly Ledbetter is a typical female worker in the U.S., the report says. At least in Alabama, she wasn't in the state where woman worker are worst off. Nor, as a company supervisor, was Ledbetter the worst off among all female workers, analysis of federal data shows. Read more about how Average Woman Worker Loses Nearly Half a Million to Pay Discrimination posted 1 January 2009
	It's a Man's Meltdown by: Marie Cocco, Truthdig.com Thursday 18 December 2008 via truthout.org Today's brainteaser: Name the top female executives who were forced to go before Congress, explaining why their companies made multibillion-dollar mistakes that helped wreck the economy but nonetheless deserve billions in taxpayer bailouts. Stumped? If you can't come up with any, it's probably not because you haven't been captivated - and enraged - by the drama of corporate chieftains shifting uncomfortably in congressional hearing rooms. You're getting a bird's-eye view of what Catalyst, the business-backed research group that's been tracking women's advancement in the corporate world since the 1960s, saw when it took its annual look into the nation's executive suites: Women just aren't there in numbers sufficient to make them visible. Read more on It's a Man's Meltdown posted 21 December 2008
	No advance for women in top U.S. jobs By Ellen Wulfhorst Wed Dec 10, 2008 12:40am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Women in 2008 made no significant gains in winning more top U.S. business jobs, according to a study released on Wednesday, but the head of the study said women are poised to make strides in the year ahead. The number of women who were board directors, corporate officers or top earners at Fortune 500 companies remained essentially unchanged, said the study by Catalyst, a nonprofit group that promotes opportunities for women in business. The percentage of companies with women on the board of directors was 15.1 percent this year, compared with 14.8 percent in 2007, Catalyst said. Also, the percentage of corporate officer positions held by women was 15.7 percent in 2008 and 15.4 percent in 2007, it said. The percentage of top earners in 2008 who were women was 6.2 percent, compared to 6.7 percent in 2007, it said. Read more about lack of advance for women in top jobs posted 12 December 2008
	Where Are the New Jobs for Women? By LINDA HIRSHMAN Op-Ed Contributor Published: December 9, 2008 NY Times BARACK OBAMA has announced a plan to stimulate the economy by creating 2.5 million jobs over the next two years. He intends to use the opportunity to make good on two campaign promises — to invest in road and bridge maintenance and school repair and to create jobs that reduce energy use and emissions that lead to global warming. Mr. Obama compared his infrastructure plan to the Eisenhower-era construction of the Interstate System of highways. It brings back the Eisenhower era in a less appealing way as well: there are almost no women on this road to recovery. Back before the feminist revolution brought women into the workplace in unprecedented numbers, this would have been more understandable. But today, women constitute about 46 percent of the labor force. And as the current downturn has worsened, their traditionally lower unemployment rate has actually risen just as fast as men’s. A just economic stimulus plan must include jobs in fields like social work and teaching, where large numbers of women work. The bulk of the stimulus program will provide jobs for men, because building projects generate jobs in construction, where women make up only 9 percent of the work force. Read more about no jobs for women posted 11 December 2008
	Off Ramp to On Ramp: It Can Be a Hard Journey By HANNAH SELIGSON Published: December 6, 2008 NY Times ...Ms. Markovitz Hoffman is one of many people who have left the work force to take a break. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, founding president of the Center for Work-Life Policy, has described this type of career detour — which is more common for women than for men — as “off-ramping.” Typically it occurs when the balancing act of parenting and work becomes too arduous. A study by the center found that more than 90 percent of women who off-ramp want to on-ramp back into the work force eventually. But making the transition back to work is rarely easy, and it is even harder in this economic climate of layoffs and hiring freezes. To address some of the obstacles faced by on-rampers, Merrill Lynch recently held a three-day program called “Greater Returns: Restarting Your Career” at Columbia University. Attending the program were 37 women — including Ms. Markovitz Hoffman — who had taken breaks from high-level jobs in fields like finance, law, technology and retail. Read more about women returning to the work force posted 9 December 2008
	The macho stimulus plan By Randy Albelda November 28, 2008 The Boston Globe PRESIDENT-ELECT Barack Obama has convincingly argued for a stimulus package that creates jobs that produce things we desperately need and want. "We'll put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children, and building wind farms and solar panels; fuel-efficient cars; and the alternative-energy technologies that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years ahead." Yes, we need bridges, roads, and schools. And yes, we should invest in green jobs - stimulating the economy as well as building a strong basis for economic growth in the future. However, there is a crucial missing link in this package - both on the employment side and the investment side. That link is women. This might as well be called the macho stimulus package. Read more about the macho stimulus plan posted 2 December 2008
	Economy Hitting Women Hardest, Say Experts By Brittany Schell OneWorld US November 21, 2008   Women are being disproportionately affected by the U.S. mortgage crisis and economic plunge, said a panel of women leaders Wednesday, urging a strong woman-focused response from the federal government. )In Rhode Island, the state with the highest unemployment rate in the country, one woman has not been able to find a job for the past eight months and is losing her house to the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Another, struggling to take care of her 14-year-old granddaughter because her own daughter is in jail, is a tenant in a building that is being foreclosed. She is being evicted by the bank, even though she is willing to pay rent. These women's stories, told by Sara Mersha, the executive director of Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) in Rhode Island, are part of what she calls the "economic Katrina." Read more about the "economic Katrina" posted 25 November 2008
	Economy Is Only Issue for Michigan Governor By MONICA DAVEY and SUSAN SAULNY Published: November 14, 2008 NY Times LANSING, Mich. — This is what a day looks like for Jennifer M. Granholm, the governor of Michigan, the state that sits, miserably, at the leading edge of the nation’s economic crisis. Morning: Rev up government workers and ministers at a huge conference in Detroit to cope with expanding signs of poverty. Afternoon: Tell a room crushed with reporters here, in the state capital, why a federal bailout is essential for the Big Three automakers, who are also, of course, residents of her state. Evening: Pack for Israel and Jordan, where Ms. Granholm hopes to persuade companies that work with wireless electricity, solar energy and electric cars to bring their jobs to Michigan. Whatever else Ms. Granholm, a Democrat in her second term, might once have dreamed of tackling as a governor (she barely seems to recall other realms of aspiration now), the economy is nearly all she has found herself thinking about, talking about, fighting about over the last six years. And Michigan, which has been hemorrhaging jobs since before 2001 and was once mainly derided in the rest of the nation as a “single-state recession,” now looks like an ominous sketch of just how bad things may get. Read more about the Economy in Michigan posted 16 November 2008
	Joe the Plumber got to ask his question. Now it's Sarah the Plumber's turn Chicago Women in Trades Sweet Sixteen Questions   Sarah the Plumber, Teresa the Tinknocker, Elsie the Electrician, Barb the Bricklayer, Mei the Machinist, and Carmen the Carpenter have yet to hear much about the issues that matter most to them. Times are tough for all construction workers, but these tradeswomen want to know what will it take to crack through the concrete floor to gain and maintain secure high-wage, high skill jobs. Here was their top sixteen list of questions for the candidates, which now apply to Women for Parity's COUNT DOWN: 1. How can women who left TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families- also known as welfare) to take personal responsibility for themselves and their families, (and found themselves in jobs that paid minimum wage with no benefits), gain access to training and job opportunities that provide them with the wages and security to achieve the American dream? 2. What will be done about providing working mothers (and fathers) with affordable, quality, accessible childcare during our nontraditional work hours? 3. What are your plans for ensuring that working women (or any person) who has/adopts/ or cares for children, the sick and the elderly can get paid family and medical leave like almost all of the other major industrial nations? 4. When will women not have to work four extra months to have an annual salary equal to men's wages? 5. If we get into the "old boys network" will there be a safety net to ensure national health care? Can this cover our spouses/domestic partners and children as well? 6. When exactly does the statute of limitations run out on pay equity? Is pay equity a trial lawyer's dream, or a simple woman's hope for (spare) change to pay the babysitter? 7. How much energy do women have to expend before we get (financial) independence (or at least a 23% discount on our bills to reflect the wage disparity)? 8. Do we have to kill a moose to demonstrate we can handle tools or provide leadership on the job? 9. How many bridges (or highways and high-rises) do tradeswomen have to build to stop being seen as just‚ homemakers and breakground into male-dominated jobs? 10. When can we anticipate that the free market and voluntary corporate efforts will level the playing field for women and people of color? When can we expect reparations for the disparity created by race and gender discrimination? Is this covered in the bailout bill (TARP) under executive compensation? 11. Can we expect the government to actually enforce safety regulations on the jobsite and ensure that personal protective equipment like hardhats, safety belts, gloves actually fit a woman's physique? 12. Is the bailout (rescue-recovery plan?) a bridge to economic equity for working women, (and people of color and men), and exactly where does it go? 13. Is a pink hardhat safer than a bonnet to protect us from the falling dollar and crashing stock markets? 14. How much straight talk will it take before gays and lesbians can move from being just "tolerated" to full equality in our work, civic, military, family, and love lives? 15. If we change "business as usual in the beltway," how many documents will a worker need to be treated fairly and equally for day's labor and to share the wealth they help to create? 16. How many "hands across the aisle" will it take to create a bi-partisan bill to rescue women from second-class citizenship, low wages, and discrimination on the job? Can poor women be appointed to fill all the positions on the oversight board to assure compliance? Can full childcare be provided at all meetings? Chicago Women in Trades (CWIT) is a nonprofit organization committed to improving women's economic equity by increasing the number of women working in well-paid, skilled trade jobs traditionally held by men. For more information, visit www.chicagowomenintrades.org User with permission from Chicago Women in Trades posted 19 October 2008
	DIC Chairwoman Suddenly A Star by Yuki Noguchi NPR Morning Edition, October 20, 2008 · It's only in times of crisis that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation sees the spotlight. And right now, the agency's Chairwoman Sheila Bair is practically famous. Bair is a native of Kansas and a self-proclaimed fiscally conservative Republican at the center of a mess that's costing the government billions of dollars. "You have to be fluid, you have to be flexible," Bair said of veering from her general principles of not spending. Last week, with credit frozen and banks not lending, the FDIC took extraordinary steps to insure all non-interest bearing deposits. It also backed newly issued debt for banks, in an effort to get more money to flow. Read more about Sheila Bair posted 21 October 2008
	Minority Women-Owned Businesses Grow Nationwide Last update: Oct. 14, 2008 WASHINGTON, Oct 14, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) According to recent data released by the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), women --among all minorities -- are establishing their own businesses nearly twice as fast as male minority entrepreneurs and more than four times non-minority men and women. Between 1997 and 2002, the growth in number of minority women-owned firms was 57 percent, compared to 31 percent for minority male-owned firms. Minority-owned firms play a critical role in generating jobs, creating wealth and introducing innovative products and services in local communities. Nearly 1.5 million minority women-owned firms generated approximately $111 billion in gross receipts in 2002. All women-owned businesses only grew 20 percent during the same time period and male-owned firms grew only 16 percent. Read more about the MBDA report posted 15 October 2008
	The Woman Greenspan, Rubin & Summers Silenced posted by Katrina vanden Heuvel on 10/09/2008 @ 11:46pm The Nation "Break the Glass" was the code-name high-level Treasury Department figures gave the $700 billion bailout; it was to be used only as a last- resort measure. Now millions have been sprayed and damaged by broken glass. But more than a decade ago, a woman you're likely never to have heard of, Brooksley Born, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission-- a federal agency that regulates options and futures trading--was the oracle whose warnings about the dangerous boom in derivatives trading just might have averted the calamitous bust now engulfing the US and global markets. Instead she was met with scorn, condescension and outright anger by former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and his deputy Lawrence Summers. In fact, Greenspan, the man some affectionately called "The Oracle," spent his political capital cheerleading these disastrous financial instruments. Read more about Brooksley Born, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. posted 11 October 2008
	Women: Revised contracting rule still falls short Kent Hoover, Washington Bureau Chief Monday, October 8, 2008 "Federal agencies could set aside contracts for women-owned businesses in up to 31 industries under a new rule issued by the Small Business Administration. That's an expansion from the four industries originally proposed for the set-asides, but groups representing women-owned businesses contend the rule still falls far short of what is needed to give women their fair share of federal contracts." Read more about the new rule for SBA posted 9 October 2008
	Women Business Owners Seek Better Access to Federal Contracts by: Elizabeth Olson, The New York Times Wednesday 01 October 2008 "Washington - Christine Bierman, a small-business owner, has been to the Rose Garden and met President Bush. She has received awards from the federal government for how she runs her company. But after 28 years in business, Ms. Bierman says, she has yet to win a six-figure federal contract that would catapult her company, a distributor of industrial safety supplies based in St. Louis, into the higher-earning ranks. And she is not alone in her frustration. Last year, female small-business owners were awarded only 3.4 percent of annual federal contracts - even though the latest statistics show women own almost half, or 10.1 million, of small businesses nationwide, and generate about $2 trillion in revenue." Read more about Women Business Owners' Problems with Federal Contracts posted 4 October 2008