All I can say is, “Wow.”  Check out this info from MomsRising.org, a website dedicated to workplace discrimination issues:

Yesterday, the Senate failed to pass the Fair Pay Act, which would allow women to demand equal pay for equal work. Senator McCain (R-AZ), who didn’t even come to vote, said that instead of legislation allowing them to demand equal pay, women simply need “education and training.” Not only is his information wrong — women still are all too often paid less for the same work, even though they have the same education and training — he’s also sending a message to our nation, to our sons and daughters, that this pay gap is okay, and it’s women’s fault for being paid less.

So to send a message to Congress, and specifically Senator McCain, [women are signing] this petition for Fair Pay and sending Senator McCain their resumes — to show that women have plenty of education, what we need is Fair Pay. You should send yours too!

http://www.momsrising.org/fairpaymccain

Don’t worry if you don’t have your resume perfected — you can just write a quick note.Women now make up 58% of college graduates and nearly half of the labor force, but still earn less pay for the same work as men. Worse yet, mothers only make 73 cents to a man’s dollar, for the exact same job. College graduate, high school graduate, law school diploma, nursing degree, whatever your training; women should make equal pay for equal work. Don’t you agree?

Unbelievable.  How could Senator McCain make such an ignorant comment?  It’s incredibly insulting and demonstrates the problem quite clearly.  Let’s try to make a difference by signing the online petition at MomsRising.org.  You can also paste your resume or include a bio outlining your credentials along with your petition submission.  If you can’t get the petition to submit with your resume pasted into the provided box, you can delete the resume text, and your petition submission should go through fine without it.  Then you can email your resume separately to resumes@momsrising.org.

It just takes a second to sign the petition.  Go do it now …. here’s the link again, http://www.momsrising.org/fairpaymccain.

Hat tip to Kristen King at BizChicksRule.com for this one! 

You can read more about the Senate vote and John McCain’s comments in the following articles:

Republican Senators Block Pay Discrimination Measure (New York Times)

McCain Opposes Equal Pay Bill in Senate (Associated Press)

And I just wrote about the gender gap in pay on Women On Business: Women Make 77 Cents for Each Dollar Men Make in the U.S.

Did you know that Tuesday, April 22nd was Equal Pay Day?  I didn’t.  In fact, I’ve never heard of it.  Why isn’t this day publicized more?

According to BizWomen.com, Equal Pay Day was created in 1996 by the National Committee on Pay Equity to draw attention to the inequality in pay between men and women in the United States.  It falls on a Tuesday in April each year. 

The importance of this holiday is undeniably significant.  Lauren Lawley Head said it all in her post on BizWomen.com called Pay Gap Worth Steaming Over when she listed these facts:

• Nationally, women make 77 cents for every $1 men earn.
• In terms of annual pay, it took women from January 1, 2007 until April 2008 to make as much money as their male colleagues had made by December 31, 2007.
• In terms of weekly pay, women have to work until the following Tuesday to catch up to the earnings of men in equivalent positions.

What do you think about National Pay Day?  Have you heard of it?  Have you participated in any activities related to National Pay Day?  Leave a comment and share your experience and/or thoughts.

Happy Administrative Professionals’ Day to all of the men and women who keep the offices around the world running efficiently and sanely! 

Time for another round of Women’s Words Weekly where I take a look at what businesswomen bloggers were talking about during the previous week.

Nicki Gilmour of The Glass Hammer gives us Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo CEO, on Mentors, Meritocracy and Maternity - a great wrap up of Nooyi’s speach at the Catalyst Awards featuring some excellent quotes.

Deborah Robinson of Australian Women Online reviews Girl’s Guide to Turning Your Idea into a Business by Melissa Seymour - includes quotes from an interview with Melissa.

Heidi Richards at Virtual Woman’s Day asks How Green is Your Office? - provides a number of great ideas to make your office greener

Liz Strauss from Successful Blog writes about WordCampDallas Business Panel where she discusses the business blogging panel she participated in and includes a video of the panel session.

Jennifer Chait from Office Stuffer asks Got Office Stress? - a helpful discussion of what stress is and the basics of understanding stress.

The Age of Conversation 2 is underway, and the 275 blogger authors have been assigned topics related to the subject: Why don’t people get it?  I will be tackling a really cool topic - My Marketing Tragedy.  I already know what I’m going to write about, but I can’t tell.  You’ll have to buy the book when it comes out later this year.  Remember, all proceeds go to Variety, the Children’s Charity.

Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

I was lucky enough to get a copy of The Chic Entrepreneur from author Elizabeth Gordon, which I’m very happy to review here on Women On Business.  First, this book is written just the way I like books and how I like to write my own.  It’s very straightforward and easy to read.  Let’s face it.  Businesspeople are very busy.  Longwinded business books that are overflowing with jargon and buzz words are useless to me.  I don’t have time to sort through the BS to get to the meat of the book.  I find myself saying, “Just get to the point.”  The Chic Entrepreneur gets right to the point and delivers numerous specific and useful tips, suggestions and theories that readers can implement immediately - again, just the way I like it. Continue reading »

With Earth Day quickly approaching, I thought it would be appropriate to write about making business more eco-friendly.  I checked the RiverWired blog to get some ideas and found a post called the Top 10 Tips to Green Your Small Business by Susan Seliger.

In her article, Susan discusses the importance not just of making environmentally friendly products but actually walking the green walk and talking the green talk in every aspect of your business.

One of the best tips Susan gives is to ask your employees for green ideas first.  I think this is probably the most important piece of the puzzle in terms of making your company greener.  Getting employee buy-in for your green initiatives and living by example are the building blocks of creating an eco-friendly business.  If your employees support your green efforts and see you setting the tone, they’ll be more motivated to join in.

You can follow the link to read all 10 tips to make your business greener.  There are some great ideas in the post, many of which are very easy to implement immediately.

What green initiatives have you seen work successfully in your company?

Time for another round of Women’s Words Weekly where I take a look at what businesswomen bloggers were talking about during the previous week.

Darlene McDaniel of Interview Chatter brings us Video Instruction: Resume and Cover Letter Secrets Revealed - great tips to help you in your job search.

Miki Saxon of Leadership Turn gives us Four Quick Steps to Improve Your Writing - great for anyone who struggles with writing.

Celine Roque of Pimp Your Work published Understand Innovation in 5 Minutes - a slideshow about innovation and where innovative ideas come from.

Laura Spencer of Work From Home Momma asks Is Coworking the Next Stage of Telecommuting? - an interesting overview of a new trend in shared workspace and socialization.

Tags: women in business, businesswomen bloggers, women on business, businesswomen, female bloggers

A survey of 1,200 women business owners conducted by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) discovered three interesting trends about female business owners.  According to a post on WomenEntrepreneur.com by Eva Gumpel, women business owners are going green, going global and giving back to their communities (dubbed the 3 ‘G’s by Eva).

The survey found that:

• 25% of women business owners are taking their businesses to international markets.
• 71% of women business owners are actively making their companies greener (by changing their products or their company policies).
• 53% of women business owners are giving 1%-5% of their profits to philanthropic causes.

Way to go ladies!

I received an email today announcing a free webcast sponsored by the American Marketing Association on Thursday, April 24, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. (ET).  The webcast will feature Michael Lowenstein, a customer loyalty expert and vice president/senior consultant of Harris Interactive, who will explain the relationship between employee behavior, customer loyalty and profitability. 

The webcast will teach participants how to:

• Determine which employee attitudes and actions affect customer behavior
• Accurately measure customers’ perceptions
• Identify the roots of employee negativity
• Develop a customer-centric culture    

The first 100 webcast registrants will receive a 10% discount toward the 15th Annual Harris Interactive Loyalty Conference, April 27–29 at the Silverado Resort, Napa, California.