Barbara F. Materka, a lifelong fighter for human rights and women's rights, died peacefully in her home on Turtle Creek Blvd at the age of 99, surrounded by loving family in the days preceding her death. Barbara was a member of the VFA, and SMU student interviews of her can be viewed in our "Fabulous Feminists" ebook. She served [...]
From the New York Times, "Megan Rapinoe Steals the Show at the Women's World Cup Parade." There were words of gratitude, the usual forgettable verbiage from public officialdom and a presentation of the keys to the city. Then the people gathered at the City Hall rally for the United States women’s soccer team on Wednesday finally got to hear from [...]
On Monday, June 17, VFA Board Chair Muriel Fox was honored with an Elly Award at a luncheon benefiting the Women’s Forum of New York. We congratulate Muriel on this wonderful honor! Photo (l to r): Barbara Marcus, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Muriel Fox, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, with Linda Willett on right. The Women’s Forum of New York is [...]
The Equal Rights Amendment is back on Capitol Hill - 36 years since its last hearing and nearly a century since the amendment to guarantee equal rights to women was first introduced in Congress. Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of New York in January again sponsored a resolution to restart the ratification process needed to add the amendment to the US constitution. [...]
Former senator Birch Bayh, the author of two major constitutional amendments as well as legislation that dramatically improved women’s rights in classrooms and on athletic fields, died March 14 at his home in Easton, Md. He was 91. Mr. Bayh co-wrote what would have been the 27th Amendment, the Equal Rights Amendment, prescribing equal treatment of women in all fields. Congress [...]
Despite decades of antipathy between Douglass and the women's suffragist group leaders - after Douglass had at a critical moment prioritized the vote for African American men over the suffagist push to enfranchise white women, who responded with an openly racist backlash - the abolitionist titan was warmly welcomed at a woman’s suffrage meeting on the last day of his [...]
Betty Friedan, author of the Feminine Mystique and a founder of the National Organization for Women, was born 98 years ago today, February 4, 1921. Betty was one of the catalysts of the second wave feminist revolution. We will always be grateful for her contribution and we remember her today.
Automated email replies of working women - “I’m out of office until 2019” - were part of a campaign to mark Equal Pay Day in Britain this November to draw attention to the country’s gender pay gap ("Britain's Equal Pay Day Highlights Gender Gap," NYT, Nov. 10, 2018). The Fawcett Society, a group that campaigns for gender equality and [...]
Although one might think that the male/female pay gap would not apply in the online arena, research conducted by Website Planet, a supplier of digital services, says otherwise. "Female freelancers are being paid significantly less than men—in some cases half as much—on two of the most highly used and reputable freelance job platforms, Upwork and Fiverr," says the report. [...]
A federal appeals court ruled on Monday that relying on a woman's previous salary to determine her pay for a new job perpetuates disparities in the wages of men and women and is illegal when it results in higher pay for men. The ruling undercuts one of the key arguments employers have for allowing pay disparities between women and men [...]