8 | APRIL 23 • 2020 

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Views

essay
Coronavirus Issues 
a Wake-Up Call
F

or 56 years, 
concerned 
women 
have been 
fighting for pay 
equity — equal 
pay for the same 
work performed 
by men. We have cited statistics 
showing a gap that is bad for 
white women, worse for women 
of color and Hispanics and 
nearly unfathomable for Native 
Americans. Despite our best 
efforts, progress has been slow. 
Today, on average, women earn 
82 cents for every dollar a man 
earns for the same work, and it 
is estimated that we won’
t catch 
up until 2093. 
It’
s very likely that the coro-
navirus, and the disruption to 
people’
s lives and jobs, will push 
that date back even further. Our 
country is in the midst of a cri-
sis that has left many workers, 
those who are not able to work 
from home or who are deemed 
“unessential,
” wondering what 
their economic future looks like 
and how they’
ll pay the bills. 
Women have been hit especially 
hard by the loss of jobs in the 
service industries and other 
low-paying jobs, as they make 
up the majority of staff at these 
jobs. Many are single mothers 
whose families depend on their 
income. 
The federal government 
is responding to the loss of 
income with a huge financial 
plan that includes some short-
term payouts, paid sick time 
for some people, an expansion 
of unemployment benefits and 
a bailout for some businesses, 
such as the airlines and cruise 

and hotel indus-
tries. Some of these 
measures will help 
struggling workers 
— but women who 
have never had paid 
sick time and have 
had to juggle bills 
from paycheck to paycheck to 
stay afloat in the best of times 
need more permanent solu-
tions. These are people who do 
not fly or take cruises or stay 
in hotels but struggle every day 
just to live and care for their 
loved ones. 
March 31 was National Pay 
Equity Day, and April 29 was to 
be Michigan’
s Equal Pay Day. 
We won’
t be rallying on the 
Capitol steps in April, but we 
will continue to educate about 
the need for equal pay, equal 
treatment and paid sick time 
through social media. Beyond 
that, we need to plan for what 
happens next when the quick 
fix dissipates, and the full extent 
of the crisis falls upon us. 
 Perhaps the pandemic that is 
sweeping the United States will 
open the eyes and ears of those 
who have refused to acknowl-
edge the wage disparity that 
exists and the need for fairer 
treatment of all women. 
Based on prior experience, 
the outlook is hazy. The current 
moment could be pivotal in the 
ongoing fight for the reforms 
working women have been 
demanding for years. This crisis 
is a wakeup call, and it’
s on all of 
us to step up and respond. 

Irma Glaser and Cathy Cantor 
are Michigan NCJW State Policy 
Advocates for the Michigan Equal 
Pay Day Coalition

Irma Glaser 
Cathy Cantor

