President’s Message continued from page 1
husbands did. To many, women were only useful at cleaning, cooking, or tending to children and didn’t have the brain capacity to make informed decisions. The lack of enfranchisement was also about control. Women couldn’t own property, obtain bank loans in their own names, retain custody of their children in the event of a divorce, etc. Astonishingly, it wasn’t till the Equal Opportunity Credit Act was passed in 1974 that women could get a credit card in their own names. Fortunately, many of these issues have been resolved. However, women have still not achieved parity with men. I’m amazed that in the late first quarter of the 21st century, there is still a sizeable wage gap between men and women. I have never been able to understand why so many legislators are opposed to the idea of equal pay for equal work.
Typically, women earn only 84 cents for every dollar paid to men and this figure is even lower for women of color or disabilities. This is true for 90 percent of the occupations in the United States. (www.whitehouse.gov/). Some years ago, I worked for a company that paid women less than men because “men are heads of households and are supporting families.” This kind of faulty reasoning leaves women behind and hinders our economy. According to AAUW, at this rate women won’t achieve pay
equality until 2088.
These gendered divisions persist in other areas as well. Our March speaker, Mary Stutts, is a 30-year experienced Chief Executive Officer in the women’s global health field. She gave us a short orientation on women’s medical challenges worldwide, including the U.S., then a question-and-answer session followed. Sadly, the needs of many women are not being addressed. Almost all medical studies use men as test subjects despite the fact that men and women present very different symptoms to diseases and responses to medications. Medical professionals don’t always take women seriously when they report health issues. “In many societies, women are disadvantaged by discrimination rooted in sociocultural factors.” (World Health Organization) Women in health-related fields tend to be underpaid and undervalued although they are 67 percent of the health care workforce that cares for 5 billion people. (www.who.int/). Gender equity in health services is necessary as we work towards caring for all the earth’s people.
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