EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK IS WOMEN'S SLOGAN

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2405

WOMEN WHO DO MEN'S WORK SHOULD DEMAND MEN'S PAY

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) One hundred years ago today, August 18, 1917, the National American Woman Suffrage Association* issued an open letter to wage earning suffragists calling on every woman who does men's work "to demand men's pay as a matter of justice to herself and duty to her fellow workers."

The demand came as a result of claims that some employers were using the war emergency as an excuse to employ women at lower wages than they would pay men.

The NAWS wrote...

"In simple justice to themselves, (women) should not do men's work for less than men's pay.  In fairness to the men and their families...they should not undercut the men with whom they will be in competition after the war."

*The National American Woman's Suffrage Association was formed in 1890 by the merger of the NWSA (National Woman's Suffrage Association) & the AWSA (American Woman's Suffrage Association).

Membership in the NAWSA increased to 2 million making it the largest voluntary organization in the United States.

SOURCE

"Equal Pay For Equal Work is Women's Slogan," The Chicago Sunday Tribune, August 19, 1917.

Woman's Suffrage Parade
New York City (1917)
Mural by Allyn Cox
United States Capitol