Letter: Women’s Equality Day

Women’s Equality Day, Aug. 26, celebrates the achievements of women’s rights activists and reminds us of the unique daily struggles that women experience. It is a national day celebrating the importance of the women’s suffrage movement and the work to secure and expand equal rights. Economic justice is one area where we all can work in order to improve women’s freedom and success.

In 2022, women are making 17% less than men on average, and it is an even larger deficit when you look at the breakdown for women of color. For working mothers, there is the challenge of making less and then having to pay for expenses such as childcare to be able to go to work, or even having to leave work early, ultimately working fewer hours, to take care of a child. There are also issues when it comes to paid leave or any leave of absence. Because paid maternity leave is not guaranteed, any woman who decides to have a child could lose their savings in the eight weeks that they would be gone. These few examples just scratch the surface of the barriers that women face in terms of economic justice.

While we have seen improvements when it comes to economic equality, when will we finally see economic justice for women? Getting paid maternity and family leave would be a start to ease the burden on working mothers. Guaranteeing equal pay for women will help to ensure equality and that there will be fewer economic barriers for women to have to overcome. Focusing on financial literacy for women and young girls can help them overcome these obstacles earlier in life. There’s so much more that could be done in order to help and support women in reaching economic justice.

We are in this together, and will continue to advocate for a wide range of economic justice issue to ensure that women can live more free and successful lives.

Paula Yensen

President, McHenry County National Organization for Women