Chelsea Bossert/Daily Mining Gazette League of Women Voters of the Copper Country Co-President, Faith Morrison, spreads awareness of the Gender Pay Gap to on-lookers and those walking by Husky Plaza Tuesday afternoon.

HOUGHTON — The League of Women Voters of the Copper Country had volunteers sprawled out near Michigan Technological University’s Husky Plaza on Tuesday. Their goal was to spread awareness about the Gender Pay Gap in the workforce.

Equal Pay Day is designated on a Tuesday in March to help build understanding about how much it would take a woman to work to earn what a man makes in a year. Three extra months are needed, hence the March date.

While Equal Pay Day was officially celebrated last Tuesday, the LWVCC joined together this Tuesday in order to educate the community on this issue women face in the workforce. They gave out snacks and informational materials, including a pamphlet discussing data around the pay gap.

“Women earn, on average, less than men,” the LWVCC’s pamphlet states. “This difference, the gender pay gap, is 19% on average, across all workers.”

LWVCC Co-President, Faith Morrison, addressed students passing by and those who stuck around the table learning about the gap. “We do have laws in the state of Michigan and in the United States that equal pay for equal work should be the law of the land, but it is not the reality of the land,” she said. “We’re hoping to get people to understand that the only way for this to change is to join the bandwagon and to try and make some change.”

According to Morrison, the LWVCC has been spreading awareness on Michigan Tech’s campus about the Gender Pay Gap since 2016. They opted to show up this Tuesday to reach more people, as Michigan Tech students were on spring break last week.

One Michigan Tech staff member, Lindsey Wells, stopped by the LWVCC table to learn more about how she can spread awareness about the pay gap and how she can get more involved in her community.

“I’ve known about [the pay gap] for a while, but y’know, sometimes things change and so I kind of wanted updated information and how to keep getting updated information,” she said. “If we bring awareness to the situation we can give individuals ways to fight [the gap] and that can turn into kind of a collective group effort.”

Morrison echoed this sentiment of informing the individual to help catalyze larger change within their communities.

“In general, when you find yourself in a room where the assessment of your co-workers, or pay is being discussed, to be an informed participant in those discussions,” she said.

The pamphlet provided by LWVCC gives some information about what the individual can do about the pay gap. These include calling politicians and representatives to support the Paycheck Fairness Act and Raise the Wage Act.

It also urges those who in support of ended the pay gap to advocate for your colleagues and employees, spread the word of events, support state laws that aim to end the pay gap, and negotiate on an individual level.

“How can we make a difference on the equal pay gap, is to be informed,” Morrison said. “Vote for increases in the minimum wage, vote for improved procedures that are named in our pamphlet.”

To get involved or learn more information about the LWVCC visit my.lwv.org/copper-country.