Equal Pay Day, March 14, 2023

This year, Equal Pay Day is March 14, 2023. This date symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned last year, 2022.

Consider the two drawings. The one on the left shows each person standing on boxes. That's equality. But if the boxes are rearranged to accommodate each individual better, that's equity.

Women often require more than a level playing field. They need to belong to a society that actively supports them, in education, in the workplace, in medical care.

Now think further on the issue of equal pay. March 14 represents Equal Pay Day for all women. For Black women, the date is July 27. For Latinas, it's October 5.

Peconic Bay members (from left) Geri Kazenoff, Annika Shapiro and Betsy Kaplan joined Tia Fulford, Founder and Executive Director of The Butterfly Effect Project, at the North Fork Unitarian Universalist Fellowship service on March 12. Fulford was the guest speaker, and she shared her thoughts about how "resilience can only be clarified by tragedy, for it is the sum total of how you held up and persevered through the storm we call life."

The Butterfly Effect Project (BEP) is a mentoring program for young girls from predominantly underserved communities on eastern Long Island. BEP works to challenge and dismantle structural injustice and inequity.

Peconic Bay Zonta has long supported BEP.