How much less have you earned?

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeNow you can calculate how much less you, your daughter, or your granddaughter -- or any other woman, of course -- will earn than a man with comparable experience doing the same job. The "Get Out of the Way of Fair Pay" campaign we talked about here last week sent me a calculator "widget" that's now embedded in our side-bar.

Take a look, and when you're totally depressed or incredibly angry, tell the Chamber of Commerce they should get out of the way of fair pay.

You can send the National Chamber of Commerce a quick email by going here.

Here are links to the board listings for each of our local chambers. See who you know. Call them up. Send them emails. Ask them to take a stand -- tell the national Chamber of Commerce to get out of the way. Ask them to support the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. After all, many of them are women, and they all have mothers, sisters, wives, children, and -- oh yes, employees who are women.

• Chamber of Commerce of Ulster County
• Southern Ulster Chamber of Commerce
• New Paltz Regional Chamber of Commerce
• The Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce
• Green County Chamber of Commerce
  

Let's get the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed this legislative year.

How would you fix health care?

The Obama-Biden Transition Team is asking people to contribute their own thoughts and ideas for how to fix the system at Health Care. They've asked people to organize Community Discussions all across the country, and Ruth Wahtera, a member of our branch public policy committee has volunteered to host a discussion this Saturday. Details are on the Unofficial Passions blog here.

If you would like to host a discussion before December 31st, you can find the information on the Transition website. The Transition Team provides a moderator's guide and a participant's guide. They include a half dozen or so questions to discuss and provide directions for getting feedback to them.

If you haven't visited the Transition website, take a look. They're working hard to use web 2.0 tools to engage us all.

A gender pay gap for artists

Image via WikipediaRokki Carr passed on the link to this LA Times article about the pay gap for women artists:

A gender pay gap for L.A. artists (NYC too) | Culture Monster | Los Angeles Times: "A gender pay gap for L.A. artists (NYC too)
9:01 PM, December 1, 2008

As a follow-up to its report 'Artists in the Workforce, 1990-2005,' released in June, the National Endowment for the Arts is releasing today the results of a closer examination of the gender pay gap between men and women artists discovered by the original study.

Surprise -- women artists earn less....

"We find that artists are remarkably entrepreneurial... and the fact of women working in these lower-population areas is a sign to me of how women, in a sense, are really at the forefront of that entrepreneurship, and bringing it to those communities," Iyengar said.

The gender pay gap increases with age and varies by occupation: Women performing artists, including dancers, actors and musicians, have more parity with their male peers than women in non-performing arts occupations, including designing and art direction. But then, performers are traditionally paid less than those in non-performing arts capacities, so there's less cause for women performers to celebrate their parity."

"

Tell the US Chamber of Commerce to Get Out of the Way of Fair Pay

AAUW Dialog recently noted that the Out of the Way of Fair Pay campaign points to a recent study that reports women lose $434,000 over a lifetime of work due to the gender wage gap. Watch their one-minute video featuring Batgirl, Batman, and Robin.




Click here to send a letter to the US Chamber of Commerce protesting their opposition to pay equity reform proposals in Congress -- the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act.

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Holiday Party Planned for December 16th

We are pleased that Split the Bill, a musical duo that includes Elisa Geliebter, manager of the children's book program at Lisa Libraries, has agreed to provide the entertainment at our Holiday Party, Tuesday, Dec. 16, from 4 pm at the Kingston Library.

Please bring an unwrapped gift (valued around $5), suitable for a woman in the domestic violence shelter. They especially need bath and personal care items, games, puzzles, and books for all ages, and winter hats, scarves, and gloves.

Here's a bit from Split the Bill’s website:

With lots of close harmonies, interwoven acoustic guitars, piano and mandolin, this singer-songwriter duo consists of Myra Dirnfeld and Elisa Geliebter.

Their songs and arrangements have been called "compelling. . . and haunting". The Kingston Freeman wrote that Split the Bill makes music in "a comfortable living room way that's been lost in recent years. Split the Bill does a fine job of bringing real music back, as it should be."

Split the Bill performs a blend of intriguing and rhythmic originals and covers including The Beatles, The Indigo Girls, Radiohead, Jackson Browne, The Eagles and Emmylou Harris.

The duo is based in the Hudson River Valley between the river and the mountains; the sound of the beautiful land flows through their music.

Photo by Timothy K. Hamilton

AAUW Kingston Book Club revises reading list for 12/08 to 6/09

Image by Wolf Gang via FlickrImage by Wolf Gang via Flickr

Dec. 16, 2008 - ViVi Hlavsa will help us explore the poems in Section 2 of the looseleaf binder that she has assembled. The binder can be purchased or borrowed from the library.

Jan. 13*, 2009 (* note the date change) - Leeway Cottage by Beth Gutcheon. A story about a couple who meet at Julliard and are separated by WW2, when the husband goes back to his native Denmark and becomes involved with the successful rescue of the Danish Jews.

Feb. 17, 2009 - The Known World by Edward P. Jones. Before the Civil War, a black slave buys his freedom and then buys black men to work for him.

March 17, 2009 - The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. This heroine in early 20^th-century New York has no fortune and is unable to find her place in the upper level of society. A fictional depiction of the rigid class system of the time.

April 21, 2009 - ViVi Hlavsa’s One Book, One Community selection: Russian Journal and selected short stories by Andrea Lee.

May 19, 2009 - Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles (BCB). Adair Colley, an 18-year-old girl in Missouri at the time of the Civil War is arrested by the Union Army as an Enemy Woman. She is interrogated by a Union Major and they fall in love.

June 16, 2009 - Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. Henry Fleming is a teenager who joins the Union Army during the Civil War. He is fearful of killing and dying and friends betray his fears. His wound is the red badge of courage. This is a coming of age story that does not glorify war. It has been called the first modern American novel.

AAUW Branch Members at the United Nations

AAUW Kingston Branch members visit the United Nations on December 2nd for the conference: The Impact of Climate Change on Women and Children. Left to right: Garnette Arledge, President, Janine Mower, Irene Miller, Susan Holland, and Denise Springer

What's Up With Voting Machines in New York?

Image via WikipediaWhat's Up With Voting Machines in New York?

• How does a mandated switch to op-scan computers in 2009 square with the Constitution?
• Can we save our levers---and millions of dollars, too?
• Can op-scan voting be trusted?

These questions will be covered in a public forum

7 pm, Tuesday, December 9

at the Kingston Library, 55 Franklin Street

The forum will begin with the video "Hacking Democracy", which shows how optical scan computers, even with paper ballots, can be secretly hacked without a trace.

The video will be followed by attorney Andi Novick's explanation of why op scan, or any other computer voting, does not square with the NY State Constitution, which demands an "observable, transparent, and secure" system that computers cannot comply with.

She will also update the public on a pending legal case to ensure that legislators adhere to the Constitution and will detail the enormous costs a switch to computers would entail now and over the years vs keeping our levers.

Sponsored by the American Association of University Women, the program is free, and questions from the audience will be encouraged.

For more information: contact Irene Miller at 518 678-3516

AAUW Members Attend UN Conf. on Women, Children, and Climate Change

Janine Mower attended the UN conference on Women and Children and Climate Change with others from our branch this week. She has a new, personal blog, the View From My Kitchen Window where she has posted a series on her trip to the city, her reflections on being at the UN, and her summary and comments on the conference speakers.

Visit her new blog, congratulate her in the comments, and read her impressions of the day.

View From My Kitchen Window: "We left the conference and as we drove back to Ulster county- thru the streets of one of the most important cities in the world, New York city, I was struck by how vulnerable we all are.

Many Americans are living one pay check away from financial disaster.

In order to not feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problems we face as humans on this wonderful planet, I seek out a small local problem and do my best to help it come to a resolution. I'm sure that there are many others out there that do the same."

Thanks for sharing your experience, Janine.