Speaking of Gender Equity

The fifth in a series of (Un)Equal Pay podcasts from the Vermont Commission on Women (VCW), this conversation features Marita Canedo, the Milk with Dignity Program Coordinator at Migrant Justice; Amanda Garcés, the Director of Policy, Education and Outreach at Vermont Human Rights Commission; and Drea Tremols, business owner of Soul Vibration Massage Therapy.

The guests contribute not only personal experience and reflection to this discussion but perspective from their work in justice, healing, and equity. The conversation is introduced by VCW Executive Director Cary Brown and moderated by VCW Co-chair Lisa Senecal.

Based on median earnings for full-time, year-round workers, Latina women are paid 57 cents for every dollar paid to white non-Hispanic men. Latina Equal Pay Day fell on October 21st in 2021, a symbolic day illustrating the point into the current year, an extra 10 months, to which Latina women must work to earn as much money as white non-Hispanic men made in the year before, due to the gender wage gap. While they are the group with the largest wage gap, they are far from monolithic. They are from a myriad of cultures and identities and can be of any race.

VCW’s (Un)Equal Pay podcast series examines the ways sexism, racism, homophobia, and ableism intersect, creating much larger wage gaps for women of color, women living with disabilities, and members of our LGBTQ+ community.

Wednesday, March 24, 2021 is women's (un)Equal Pay Day, the day into the new year the average woman must work to catch up to the earnings the average man made in the pervious year. Based on median earnings for full-time, year-round workers, American women are paid 82 cents for every dollar paid to American men. This podcast conversation centers on the ways COVID-19 impacts decisions that women and their families are making. It touches on career choice and advancement, including occupational segregation. It explores the critical role of women as essential workers and as early care and education providers in keeping women in the workforce, while calling attention to how their worth is not reflected in earnings or status. Guests on this podcast include educator Lara Scott, the director of Mobilization of Volunteer Efforts (MOVE) at Saint Michael’s College, and Sarah MacDonald, assistant director and classroom educator at the Early Learning Center in Colchester. The conversation is introduced by VCW's executive director Cary Brown and moderated by VCW Commissioner Kellie Campbell, Chief Technology Officer at Vermont Tech and Chair of VCW’s Education and Human Development committee.