Dear DePauw Community,
Today, March 8, is International Women's Day. Women and their allies around the world are participating in "A Day Without A Woman" by refraining from paid and unpaid work, limiting their economic activity to businesses owned by women and minorities, and/or wearing red in solidarity. These actions recognize "the enormous value that women of all backgrounds add to our socio-economic system--while receiving lower wages and experiencing greater inequities, vulnerability to discrimination, sexual harassment, and job insecurity." (Women's March: https://www.womensmarch.com/womensday) Women make up half the workforce and in the U.S. women are the sole or co-earners in half of American households.
Nevertheless women continue to earn less than men. The Institute for Women's Policy Research estimates that if there were equal pay for women, poverty would be cut in half (https://iwpr.org/issue/employment-education-economic-change/pay-equity-discrimination/). However, our society continues to undervalue the work that women do, especially when those jobs are associated with "women's work" such as caregiving: child care, elder care, emotional care, self-care, etc. Women, particularly women of color, make up the bulk of caregivers and the work that they do is often the lowest paid (if it is paid at all) and least acknowledged. Yet, caregivers provide the physical and emotional support that keep the economy going.
On this "Day Without A Woman," we invite you to pause and acknowledge ALL the women in your life—family, friends, neighbors, and strangers—and the work that they do on a daily basis, paid and unpaid, to support and lift you up. Imagine what the world would be like without those women. We must all continue to fight for higher wages and pay equity, because economic justice is racial justice is gender justice.
Rebecca Schindler
Dana Dudle
Jeane Pope
Sarah Ryan
Paula Evans
Meryl Altman
Christie Anderson
Marnie McInnes
Carrie Klaus
Julia Bruggemann
Jennifer Everett
Pedar Foss
Heather Sloan
David Gellman
Sarah Rowley
Elissa Harbert
Michael Mackenzie
......
