Women who work are earning 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. More than 60 percent of women who work are earning half or more of their family's income. Nearly 15 million American women work full time but earn less than $25,000 a year.
Connie Evans and Anne Ladky, two leading advocates for women's employment issues, will give a presentation at Grand Valley State University on Thursday, November 9, and argue that legislators and business leaders must improve low-wage jobs to support the financial security of women.
"Women and Inequality" will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Loosemore Auditorium of the DeVos Center, Pew Grand Rapids Campus. The program is sponsored by Grand Valley's Women's Center, College of Education, School of Social Work, Seidman College of Business, and Women and Gender Studies, in addition to Economics Club and Hunger and Homelessness student groups, and the Aquinas College Women's Center.
Evans is founding president of Women's Self-Employment Project in Chicago, which works to create new businesses that empower low-income women. She has served on a number of local and international boards including the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Global Fund for Women, Center for Policy Alternatives, and Micro Credit Summit Campaign Executive Committee.
Ladky is the executive director of Women Employed, a leading national advocate for improving women's economic status. It works with Chicago businesses and colleges to enable low-income women to enter and succeed in education and training that lead to jobs.
Their presenation is funded by the Twink Frey Visiting Social Activists Fund. Frey's gift to the University of Michigan funds social change fellowships and brings programming to Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and other Michigan communities.
During their Grand Valley presentation, Evans and Ladky will illustrate their belief that the concentration of women in low-wage jobs is the central barrier to women's economic progress. The program is free and open to the public. For more information, call Grand Valley's Women's Center at (616) 331-2748.
To coincide with the presentation, a photo exhibit of low-income people who are changing their lives through education will be displayed in the Kirkhof Center Lobby, on the Allendale Campus, from November 6-9.
