April 9, 2009

Women's Fund Letter to the Editor Featured in the Business Journal

Elaine Maly, executive director at the Women’s Fund, recently sent a letter to the Business Journal to bring attention to the fact that investing in women can help lead us to economic recovery.  The letter was carried in the April 3rd issue of the Business Journal and is reprinted here:

Dear Editor:  

Although the economy has dominated our newspapers, debates and airwaves for months, little attention is being paid to the fact that investment in women is a solution.  

Women are capable of forging lasting change.  WE know that when women are economically secure, families are economically secure, and ultimately, so are communities and nations.  In order to achieve economic security for women, the steps are clear.

We must give equal pay for equal work—an act that would cut poverty in half.  In the U.S., women still make only 78 cents for every dollar earned by men.  In Wisconsin, the statistic is approximately 72 cents for every dollar and women of color fare far worse.  

We need to educate and train women to move into quality jobs created by the stimulus package, rebuilding our infrastructure and greening the economy.  

We must invest in education and health care now to ensure that we have the human capital to sustain healthy economies.  

And we have to engage women directly in the policymaking process as advocates and elected officials.

Measures like these will help not just women and families, especially low-wage workers and low-income families, but all communities.  Now more than ever, we must invest in women and their potential as agents of social and economic change.  

Sincerely,

Elaine Maly
Executive Director
Women’s Fund of Greater Milwaukee
316 N Milwaukee St, Suite 215
Milwaukee, WI  53202