Pay Equality Doesn’t Get Better For Women in June

Every June I cringe as I walk out of a local store after spotting Syracuse Woman’s Magazine (aka Syracuse Man’s Magazine in June) with a man on the cover. Why, a man you ask? Because it’s June which contains Father’s Day. Well excuse my feminist mindset, but once committed as a woman’s only magazine, including the name on the magazine’s cover, don’t shrink to not featuring women during one month out of the year because it has a man’s holiday within it. Pay equality doesn’t get better for women in June.

Women entrepreneurs are still struggling during the post-pandemic economy to recover financially from an unexpected twelve month hit. The government and lawmakers have not ratified the Equal Rights Amendment now that Covid-19 is past to help women’s equality either. Life has gone on and will continue as it’s been when it comes to highlighting, and paying men first at a higher rate.

Syracuse Woman Magazine’s new publisher is also a man and the face you see early into the edition. Why is a man publishing a “woman’s magazine?” It used to be the place you found a woman writing the editorial. I could see if the world was suddenly 50/50 in all aspects of business, sports, equality, and life issues then I wouldn’t care if a man was running a woman’s magazine, but we aren’t even close. Not by a long shot.

I have become known as a “feminist business leader” because I believe and promote loudly that until there is a pay equality law women should buy from women first and foremost or give their business to a female sales representative who gets a commission or share referrals about other women entrepreneurs. I’ve been married to a wonderful man for 33 years. I have two grown sons who I adore. I love men; but I hate that women aren’t equal in all aspects of life.  

When I was running a local women’s business group for 9 years, a couple women on our leadership team wanted to have male speakers, thinking we had run out of good options for female speakers. I refused saying, “As President of this all-woman’s organization, with the word ‘woman’ in the title, it’s not allowed unless we cannot find a woman to speak on the subject we want, and I’m positive we can” – and we always did. A few years later, I stepped down from that leadership role to create my company Women TIES dedicated to woman-focused everything.   

When you think women are equal to men, and men deserve to take women’s places as coaches of women’s sports teams, profiles on women’s magazines, and presenting at women’s events, think again about how much money women have lost playing second fiddle to tradition.  #BuyfromWomen #HireWomen