As HERstory month begins, the Women’s Coordinating Council (WCC) and the Gamma Sigma Sigma Service Sorority are working together on the Mind-the-Gap Equal Pay Bake Sale.
The bake sale is designed to help raise awareness to the pay gap that exists between male and female workers, as well as raise money for the National Committee on Pay Equity.
Caitlin Miller, junior in philosophy and kinesiology and member of WCC, said the sale is all about making people aware of the gap.
“It’s a topic that’s not really talked about, but it’s important,” Miller said. “That wage gap hasn’t decreased very much over the years. We’re just trying to raise people’s awareness.”
The sale took place at the north end of the Pedestrian Mall on Monday from 10 a.m. to noon. It will happen again on Tuesday at the same time and location. Some of the baked goods available include brownies, sugar cookies, chocolate chip and cookies with lemon frosting.
To help symbolize the gap in wages, the various baked goods are being sold at different prices based on gender. Women can buy the products for a quarter, while men must pay 50 cents.
Lindsay Rogerson, junior in nutrition and member of Gamma Sig, said that the symbolism is the key to what the sale is all about.
“I think it’s very symbolic of the fact that we don’t have equal pay in the U.S.,” Rogerson said. “And I think the fact that it costs more for a guy to have cookies than a girl shows how it really is in the world.”
WCC is conducting the bake sale with Gamma Sigma Sigma as a co-sponsor. While Gamma Sig has worked with WCC in the past on other events like Take Back the Night, this is the first year they’ve helped with the bake sale.
“They didn’t help last year and we ran out of cookies,” Miller said with a laugh. “So we decided to ask for more help.”
Gamma Sig worked with WCC as part of their philanthropy initiative. They handle the money raised by the bake sale and also help make the products that are sold.
Money raised by the event will go to the National Committee on Pay Equity, a coalition of different women’s and civil rights organizations, as well as labor unions, religious and legal associations. Its purpose is to close the wage gap that exists between minorities (such as women and people of color) and men.
Morgan Ward, a three-year member of WCC, believes the event, while small in scale, still plays a vital role in closing the pay gap.
“I don’t think it’s fair or OK,” Ward, senior in psychology and education, said. “This is one small step, but if we could do it around other campuses it’d make a difference.”
The bake sale is part of HERstory month, which has the entire month of March dedicated to female empowerment.
The next HERstory event will be the Women in the Workforce Forum. It will be held in the Shiloh Room at the UC from 5-8 p.m. on March 8.
The panel will consist of several women who will describe some of the opposition and confrontations they’ve had as women in the professional workforce.
The speakers will include Wanda Costen from the Department of Retail, Hospitality and Tourism Management; Jenny Moshak, associate athletic director of sports medicine; Dena Wise, UT Extension Outreach program representative; Lynn Sacco, associate professor of history; and Lt. Meshia Thomas from UTPD.
