skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, May 3, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Jury hears Trump and Cohen Discussing Hush-Money Deal on secret recording; Nature-based solutions help solve Mississippi River Delta problems; Public lands groups cheer the expansion of two CA national monuments; 'Art Against the Odds' shines a light on artists in the WI justice system.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

President Biden defends dissent but says "order must prevail" on campus, former President Trump won't commit to accepting the 2024 election results and Nebraska lawmakers circumvent a ballot measure repealing private school vouchers.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Bidding begins soon for Wyoming's elk antlers, Southeastern states gained population in the past year, small rural energy projects are losing out to bigger proposals, and a rural arts cooperative is filling the gap for schools in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

What the Paycheck Fairness Act Means to Arizona Children

play audio
Play

Tuesday, June 5, 2012   

PHOENIX - The Paycheck Fairness Act is up for a vote today in the U.S. Senate. Nearly four decades after the Equal Pay Act passed, many women earn less than 80 cents to the dollar earned by men. The Act also directly affects the nearly 314,000 Arizona children who live in households with single mothers (as of the 2010 census).

Cynthia Zwick, director of the Arizona Community Action Association, says the idea of paying men more for being the traditional family breadwinners hurts children as well as women. She says a couple hundred extra dollars in a single mom's paycheck can make the difference between food on the table and keeping the lights on.

"Any additional funding that comes into a family is going to be helpful. If it's not for child care, it will likely be used for food, utility assistance or any other of the basic needs that a family needs just to survive."

The Paycheck Fairness Act takes steps to close loopholes in the Equal Pay Act, and to ensure that women can investigate whether they are being discriminated against. It also strengthens penalties against employers who violate pay-discrimination laws.

One argument made by opponents of the law is that pay discrepancy is more a factor of the choices women make than actual discrimination.

Sarah Crawford, director of workplace fairness at the National Partnership for Women and Families, says that the pay gap results in an average disparity of more than $8,000 a year. She says that, of the households headed by women in Arizona, more than a third live below the poverty level.

"The wage gap robs women of more than 67 weeks of food, seven more months of mortgage and utilities payments on average, 27 more months of family health-insurance premiums, or over 2,000 gallons of gas."

Cynthia Zwick says that when women head the household, the wage disparity tends to victimize their children, especially when it comes to opportunities for personal development.

"Likely they're unable to participate in many of the extracurricular, intramural kind of sports programs, arts and crafts: there's often charges for those kinds of things. So kids are really not given the same opportunity to participate that they might otherwise."

According to census figures, for every dollar paid to white non-Hispanic men working full-time year-round, white non-Hispanic women working full time year-round earned 77 cents; African-American women 62 cents and Hispanic women 54 cents.

The bill is at www.govtrack.us.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument's new Molok Loyuk region provides habitat for tule elk, mountain lions, bears, bald eagles and golden eagles. (Hispanic Access Foundation)

Environment

play sound

Conservation groups, tribes and community organizers are praising President Joe Biden's decision Thursday to expand two national monuments in …


Social Issues

play sound

Pennsylvania is among the states where massive protests and tent encampments opposing the war in Gaza are growing. Elez Beresin-Scher, a sociology …

Health and Wellness

play sound

Studies show suicide is a serious public health problem, claiming more than 48,000 lives each year in the nation. A new initiative from the Zero …


An installation view of the exhibition Art Against the Odds, is shown at the Neville Public Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo courtesy of Kate Mothes)

Social Issues

play sound

By Kate Mothes for Arts Midwest.Broadcast version by Mike Moen for Wisconsin News Connection reporting for the Arts Midwest-Public News Service Collab…

Environment

play sound

A new film documents the 2018 battle between Colorado environmentalists and the oil and gas industry over proposed fracking regulations. The film …

Among adults in Arkansas, 32.6% report symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorder, almost identical to the national average. (Halfpoint/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

As Children's Mental Health Awareness Week kicks off in Arkansas, an expert said parents can help their children have a healthy brain to thrive…

Environment

play sound

As part of an effort to restore the Mississippi River delta, an organization is collaborating with nature to address environmental challenges…

Health and Wellness

play sound

Toughing it out during spring allergy season is not in your best interest if you want to avoid asthma later in life. New Mexico has plenty of grass …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021