Draw Attention to Equal Pay Day! Here are some ideas:
- Collaborate with other like-minded organizations and organize a program open to the public. Invite local community leaders; local politicians, issue a press release; use AAUW research, e.g. Behind the Pay Gap; and The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap. The research allows us to say: “There is a wage gap and here are the numbers to prove it.”
- Submit a resolution for your county or city to declare – “Equal Pay Day.”
- Contact local jurisdictions and prepare a resolution declaring the current date of “Equal Pay Day”; issue a press release at same time. Branch members attend the meeting where resolution is read into the record.
- Submit an Op Ed, Letter to the Editor and use Social Media to get the word out.
- Leveraging traditional media to deliver the message on a specific issue is a good vehicle for AAUW members, e.g. op-eds, letters to the editor and blogs. Contact local newspapers stating facts from AAUW research about pay equity. Offer to prepare an article (op-ed) and/or a letter to the editor. Along with traditional media, ask members who are using social media to create the same message about the wage gap as a blog, a more updated form of communication among younger women.
- Use a Facebook and/or Twitter message directing others to AAUW press releases and blogs about equal pay.
- Do some clever giveaways. Cut the corner of a cookie off and place the ¾ cookie in a baggie with information about Equal Pay Day, then distribute. Another “give away” can be a Pay Day candy bar.
- C/U Partnerships – Contact women’s studies, sociology, and political science departments and ask for an opportunity to speak to a class about Pay Equity or ask for permission to conduct voter registration on campus on Equal Pay Day. Be aware of the rules and regulations concerning registering anyone to vote (online).
The national website has lots of information and ideas.