Rally for Equal Pay for Equal Work

The Women and Girls Foundation of Southwestern Pennsylvania held an annual rally at Mellon Square in downtown Pittsburgh Tuesday in an effort to raise awareness about the inequalities in pay between men and women.

Women in the Pittsburgh region make 74 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts. Black women earn even less - 64 cents per dollar. That is slightly higher than the national average.

About fifty people attended the rally and listened to speakers including Congressman Joe Sestak, officials from the city and county and performance poet Vanessa German. Elizabeth Waikman, Communications Coordinator at The Women and Girls Foundation said in the five years since the organization began holding the event, there have been improvements, with women making a bit more per dollar than they used to much of it the result of meetings with the city and the county.

In February, the Women and Girl's Foundation released a report: The Female Face of Poverty and Economic Insecurity: The Impact of the Recession on Women in Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh. According to the report, on average, women in Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania earned more than $10,000 less than men in 2008.