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Ellen Bravo, director of 9to5, National Association of Working Women, will speak on ‘’What Women WantAnd Why They Deserve It,’’ a lecture on equal pay and welfare reform, 7 p.m. today in the Oechsle Hall auditorium.
Free and open to the public, the talk is sponsored by Association for Lafayette Women.
Bravo will address the issue of equal pay and its effect on women at all levels of the workforce — from managers and professional women to support staff and women moving off welfare. Bravo is a leading expert on pay equity, family leave, and welfare reform, debating the topics on television and radio in addition to testifying before Congress on the needs of the working poor. The Ms. Foundation presented her with the Gloria Steinem Women of Vision Award.
‘’Despite the many advances women have made, their pay stills lags significantly behind men’s,’’ notes ALW. ‘’Ellen Bravo will share candid advice about what women can do about this – and why it’s in the interest of men to support and participate in these efforts. She will also help expose prevailing myths about welfare reform and explain why welfare is a women’s issue.’’
“Just because it isn’t happening to you doesn’t mean that it isn’t happening,” says Kiki Peppard, an employee of East Stroudsburg University, who also will speak Wednesday. She will share her experience of being forced into the welfare system after being denied employment based on her marital status, according to ALW. She will also discuss her 7½-year effort to introduce legislation protecting all Pennsylvania employees from similar discrimination. ‘’Peppard is not only concerned with equal pay, but with equal consideration for employment,’’ states ALW.
Other Lafayette organizations sponsoring the event are the Ethics Project; the departments of Women’s Studies, government and law, and economics and business; NIA, a multicultural women’s support group; Pan-Hellenic Council; and Student Government.