UNC Chapel Hill event on Title IX/Pay Equity

On Friday afternoon, November 20, about 40 people attended a showing of “Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority” and a panel discussion on Title IX and Pay Equity. The event was sponsored by the Office of the Provost and several other groups, including AAUW NC.

The panelists included

• Barbara Osborne, J.D., of the Department of Exercise and Sport Science who gave some additional background on Title IX.
• Jeff Sackaroff, Career Services who brought his experience counseling recent graduates
• Kevin Hill, Visiting Instructor at the Kenan-Flagler School of Business who contributed his insights on negotiation in general, and salary negotiations in particular.

A lively discussion covered issues in negotiating for salaries — either in entering the workforce or in negotiating raises — and a recurring theme was to be prepared (know as much as you can about the other side’s options) and to approach negotiation as an expected part of the hiring process. Negotiation is a skill that applies in almost all areas of life, and while AAUW, especially through its partnership with the WAGE Project, emphasizes its value in narrowing the gender pay gap, the attendees were urged to look at it in broader terms.

AAUW resources available at the event included:

• Pay Equity Resources including
  • Advocacy: Position papers on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (passed in January 2009) and the Paycheck Fairness Act (passed by the House, but still under consideration in the Senate)
  • Education: Pay Equity Resource Kit (download request) with information on projects and background on gender pay equity.
  • Research: Behind the Pay Gap, the 2007 research report documenting pay inequities for college graduates one year out of school
• Title IX Resources including
  • Advocacy: Position paper on Title IX public policy
  • Education: Title IX Resource Kit (download request)
  • Research: Where the Girls Are: The Facts about Gender Equity in Education, a 2008 research report
• More general AAUW information
  • Brochures on membership, public policy, the Legal Advocacy Fund, and Fellowships and Grants
  • Membership insert on the joining the Tar Heel Branch, a branch serving the entire state that connects
  • AAUW NC Questions and Answers

Other campuses interested in sponsoring similar programs are encouraged to review the information about the $tart $mart workshops delivered through the AAUW partnership with the WAGE project, wageproject.org and NC resources. See also the information on the AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund Campus Outreach Programs that provide funding up to $750 for campus programs that educate college/university students and faculty about sex discrimination in higher education and the wider workplace. [See also information on a 2008 LAF event at NC Central Univ.]