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Pictured are Ohio State Representative Janine Boyd (D-9), a Cleveland Heights Democrat, and U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), a Cincinnati, Republican
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Cleveland Urban News. Com and the Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog. Tel: 216-659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Posted by Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher and editor-in-chief. Coleman is a 23-year political, educational, legal and investigative journalist who trained for 17 years, and under six different editors, at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. |
(www.clevelandurbannews.com)/(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM CLEVELAND, OHIO -With the holidays right around the corner, Ohio women on Thursday held events in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo to call on U.S. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, a Cincinnati Republican, to take action in Congress on equal pay legislation.
Men sensitive to the women's rights issue were also among people in attendance at press conferences held Thursday on the subject in key cities across Ohio, and as the 2016 presidential election nears.
And Ohio remains a pivotal state with Cleveland poised to host the Republican National Convention next year.
“In Ohio, women earn 77 cents on the dollar compared to men,” said state Rep. Janine Boyd (D-9), a Black Cleveland Heights Democrat whose ninth state House district includes Cleveland Heights, University Heights, Shaker Heights, and Cleveland wards 1 and 2. “This has a real impact on women’s lives and their ability to provide for their families."
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women’s salaries vis-à-vis men’s have risen dramatically since the enactment by Congress in 1963 of the Equal Pay Act, from some 62% to 80% over the past decades.[21] But data the EPA’s equal pay for equal work goals have not been completely achieved as demonstrated, for example, by the BLS data and Congressional findings relative to the proposed Paycheck Fairness Act.[22]
And the pay gap is even worse for Black women.
Collectively, Black women earn 63 percent of what non-Hispanic White women are paid, a wealth of data reveal , including a 2014 study commissioned by the American Association of University Women (AAUW).
Boyd said that over a lifetime, women lose out on hundreds of thousands of dollars of income because of the disparate wage gap.
The women and their supporters, mainly Democrats, are upset that Portman, who is in a tight race for reelection against likely Democratic nominee Ted Strickland, the former Democratic governor of Ohio, saying that Portman has repeatedly voted against amendments to the Equal Pay Act, and does not support the proposed Paycheck Fairness Act.[22]
“Rob Portman says he’s against discrimination in the workplace -- but he voted five times against legislation that would actually do something about pay equity,” said Franklin County Clerk of Courts Maryellen O'Shaughnessy, who led today’s event in Columbus. “His actions have a real impact on women’s lives here in Ohio -- and prove that he’s putting his Washington politics first, not the working people of Ohio.”
Councilwoman Yvette Simpson, who led the Cincinnati event, said that "we have the signatures of more than 3,000 Ohioans who endorsed a petition calling on Senator Portman to take action on this issue and support equal pay legislation."
In addition to presenting petitions, the women also presented Portman with an artificial invoice for a holiday meal for a family of four for ham, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and Christmas cookies, a message, they say, that represents working class women that are fighting to put food on the table.
“The point we’re trying to make is that the wage gap is a real issue,” said Janice Skeen, regional lead for the Ohio Democratic Women’s Caucus. “It’s about dollars and cents and real Ohio women trying to feed their families and pay their bills, all on an income that is on average 23 percent less than what Ohio men are making.” (www.clevelandurbannews.com)/(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
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