HERvotes Blog Carnival: It’s Time to Pass the Paycheck Fairness Act!

By Fatima Goss Graves, Vice President for Education and Employment at the National Women’s Law Center

For this 14th #HERvotes blog carnival, we’re blogging about equal pay and the need for the Paycheck Fairness Act – which will be on the Senate floor for a vote next week.

Why do we need the Paycheck Fairness Act (PFA)? It would update the 50-year-old law by providing incentives to employers to pay women fairly. It also would ban employers from retaliating against their employees who choose to share salary information with their coworkers.

It’s time for Congress to stand up for the rights of working women and to advance fair pay! The PFA is pending in the 112th Congress, with a vote expected in the Senate on June 5. It has twice passed the House, and it fell just two votes short of a Senate vote on its merits in the last Congress. This is a commonsense bill that would help women and their families – especially in this tough economy.

So please join us in supporting the PFA today! Start by calling you Senators today and urge them to vote for it. After you’ve called, read and share the blog posts below. We’ll be tweeting about this blog carnival all day with the hashtag #HERvotes and we encourage you to join us!

#HERvotes, a multi-organization campaign launched in August 2011, advocates women using our voices and votes to stop the attacks on the women’s movement’s major advances, many of which are at risk in the next election.

Part of the #HERvotes blog carnival.

Read More:
I Didn't Get Equal Pay. You Should- Lilly Ledbetter, via AAUW
Advancing Paycheck Fairness for Latinas means Advancing Immigrant and Reproductive Rights- Natalie D. Camastra, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
Restoring Some Reality to the Paycheck Fairness Debate- Fatima Goss Graves, National Women's Law Center
Paycheck Fairness Makes the Political Personal- Alison Channon, National Women's Law Center
Closing the Wage Gap Is About Fairness, Not Magic!- Samantha Lint, National Women's Law Center
NASW Supports the Paycheck Fairness Act- National Association of Social Workers
If Our College Graduates Can’t Fight For Fair Pay, Who Can? (PDF) - Jamie Dolkas, Equal Rights Advocates
Salary Negotiation, Powerful Women and the Wage Gap- Katherine Birdsall, Feminist Majority Foundation
Raise the Minimum Wage and Narrow the Wage Gap- Abby Lane, National Women's Law Center
Paycheck Fairness Does Not Have to be an Oxymoron- Malak Yusuf, Wider Opportunities for Women
America’s Women and Families Deserve a Vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act- Sarah Crawford, National Partnership for Women & Families
The Facts Behind the Call for Equal Pay- Christine Miranda, NOW
Families, the Wage Gap, and the Economy- Caitlin Highland, Feminist Majority Foundation
Stimulate the Economy: Pay Women Fairly- Linda Meric, 9to5, National Association of Working Women
HERvotes Blog Carnival: Equal Pay and the Single Woman- Elisabeth Gehl, Business and Professional Women’s Foundation
The Wage Gap: Collective Change, Not Choice- Maggie Fridinger, National Council of Women's Organizations
The Paycheck Fairness Act: Telling the Truth About Workforce Equality - Dani Nispel, National Council of Women's Organizations
Paycheck Equality: It’s Not a Suggestion, It’s the Law- Anny Bolgiano, Coalition of Labor Union Women
Women of Color, the Wage Gap and the Paycheck Fairness Act- Katherine Birdsall, Feminist Majority Foundation
A Jewish Call for Equal Pay- Ian Hainline & Katharine Nasielski, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Justice for Working Women- Miri Cypers, Jewish Women International
The Paycheck Fairness Act: For When Women are Old and Broke- Kate McGuinness, Fem2.0
The Relationship Between Unequal Pay and Other Forms of Gender Discrimination- Debra Miller, Feminist Majority Foundation

HERvotes Blog Carnival: National Women’s Health Week

By Cindy Pearson, co-founder of Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need

For the 13th #HERvotes blog carnival, we’re celebrating National Women’s Health Week. The federal government launched National Women’s Health Week ten years ago in an effort to improve women’s health by building awareness about things like exercise, healthy eating and the importance of regular check-ups.

It’s nice to have our government speaking out about the importance of our health, but we know that it takes more than just awareness to insure that all women are healthy. It takes access to high quality affordable health care services. For too many women, health care hasn’t been affordable, especially reproductive health services. That’s starting to change, thanks to the new health law. This week’s #HERvotes blog carnival will focus on the importance of the preventive well-woman services of the Affordable Care Act.

You may already know that the Affordable Care Act requires new health plans to cover contraceptive counseling and methods without any co-payments. But did you know that plans will also be required to cover breast feeding supplies? And screening for domestic violence? These are just a few of the new preventive services that will be covered for women starting later this year.

The #HERvotes blog carnival will feature stories about how real women and their families are already benefiting from the new women’s health services and information on new parts of the Affordable Care Act that will be implemented in August 2012.

You can participate by telling your own story and by sharing the posts below on Facebook, Twitter (using the hashtag #HERvotes) and other social media.

Part of the #HERvotes blog carnival.

Read More:

New Reasons to Celebrate Women’s Health Week- Beth Scott, American Association of University Women

Who’s Afraid of the Ob/Gyn? Lack of Communication Between Women and their Doctors- Dani Nispel, Program and Policy Intern, National Council of Women’s Organizations

National Women’s Health Week: Pledging to Take Care of Ourselves- Ann Rose Greenberg, Marketing Coordinator, Jewish Women International

Celebrating Women’s Health Week as a Grandmother- Nancy K. Kaufman, CEO, National Council of Jewish Women

Get your women’s health checkup today. It’s covered!- Lois Uttley, Co-Founder, Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need

League Recognizes National Women’s Health Week- Stephanie, League of Women Voters

#HERvotes, a multi-organization campaign launched in August 2011, advocates women using our voices and votes to stop the attacks on the major advances of the women’s movement, many of which are at risk in the next election.