Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz today used the celebration of Women’s Equality Day to once again address the issue of income inequality between genders by repeating his call for the end of such discrimination. Having heard the stories from women who have personally experienced gender based wage discrimination, Poloncarz vows to continue discussing pay equity.

“While we have made significant progress on this issue and have helped draw attention to it still existing in 2016, I believe it is important to continue to speak out as long as it exists,” said Poloncarz. “While some may choose to ignore or not believe it, the reality is some women are still the victims of wage discrimination today. Women make up more than half of the population of Erie County and are essential and irreplaceable members of our workforce. We must continue to work together to end wage discrimination. There is no reason that women are still only earning approximately three-quarters as much as men who do the same job.”

Many women still experience pay inequity in the workplace. It has been shown that, on average, women make seventy-eight cents for every dollar made by a man, a disparity that increases for women minorities. As a result, Poloncarz and the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women remain committed to promoting gender equality for women’s pay and closely monitor statistics related to pay equity and the gender gap, both locally and nationally.

In 2014 Poloncarz signed an Executive Order mandating compliance with the Equal Pay Act for all vendors seeking business with Erie County and in 2015 he lead the way in drafting a similar policy that was passed by the Erie County Industrial Development Agency. The ECIDA’s policy addresses wage discrimination in companies seeking tax incentives by ensuring that they pay their male and female employees equal pay for equal work.

Women’s Equality Day was established in 1971 to commemorate the 1920 certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote. This was the culmination of a peaceful civil rights movement by women that had its formal beginnings in 1848 at the world’s first women’s rights convention, in Seneca Falls, New York. The observance of Women’s Equality Day not only commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment, but also calls attention to women’s continuing efforts toward full equality.

For more information:

On pay equity in Erie County, visit http://www2.erie.gov/csw/index.php?q=feature/news-about-pay-equity-erie-...