Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz, Deputy County Executive Maria Whyte and Karen King, Executive Director of the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women joined together today to draw attention to the issue of income inequality between genders and stridently call for the end of such discrimination, as well as discuss pay equity concerns based on race and ethnicity.

Today is National Equal Pay Day and today’s event at the Buffalo History Museum provided a forum at which to discuss local efforts and initiatives taking place locally to combat pay inequity. Many women today still experience pay inequity in the workplace firsthand.

On average, women still make eighty cents for every dollar made by a man, a disparity that increases for women minorities, including black women, Asian women, Native American women and Latino women. In addition, in 2018 the median annual earnings for women in Erie County working full-time were $41,317 versus $53,266 for men performing the same work.

“We must continue to speak out and act against all forms of discrimination, including wage discrimination between genders. It is unconscionable that there are some employers in 2019 who feel that it is OK to pay their female employees less than male employees with the same job titles who do the same work,” said Poloncarz. “We will continue to highlight this discrimination and work with our community partners to help educate the general public about pay inequity.”

“Gender based wage discrimination is a community problem that impacts everyone,” said King. “This is something that needs to be discussed openly and thoughtfully so we can all work collaboratively to eliminate gender wage discrimination.”

Joining Poloncarz, Whyte and King at the event were Shari Scavone, Executive Director of the WNY Women’s Foundation, Erie County Legislature Majority Leader April N.M. Baskin and Erie County Legislator Barbara Miller-Williams.

The event also included a powerful speech read by Blessing Domaka, a seventh grade student at Nativity Miguel Middle School of Buffalo, who spoke about the four major pay equity breakdown points that emphasized the wider gap that faces black women.

For more information:

On the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women, visit http://www2.erie.gov/csw/