Chicago marked Equal Pay Day on Tuesday, April 4, with a variety of events, and I was lucky to attend two of them: a rousing indoor rally at the Daley Center and a workout inspired by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
First up, the Equal Pay Day Chicago rally at the Daley Center sponsored and supported by a diverse coalition of organizations, government agencies and companies.
The impressive line-up included: Sharmili Majmudar, previously of Rape Victim Advocates and now director of strategic partnerships with Women Employed; a keynote by the three organizers of the Women’s March on Chicago, Liz Radford, Ann Scholhamer and Jessica Scheller, and the reading of a proclamation from Mayor Rahm Emanuel by Mona Noriega (at the podium, above), chair of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations.
At the #SweattoInspire workout, sponsored by aSweatLife and LUNA, participants heard from ESPN reporter Sarah Spain and Sarah Ames, a Chicago lawyer who did seven marathons on seven continents in seven days to raise awareness for Hamlin Fistula, an organization that provides prenatal and obstetric care in Ethiopia. Participants also got a bad-ass RBG tank top designed by Chicago artist Laura Szumowski.
Then came the workout inspired by #notoriousRBG, followed by yoga led by Soren Buchanan.
Side note: Yes, Ginsburg is 84 years old. And no, she’s not messing around when it comes to working out. Not if the session led by trainer Emily Hutchins is any indication. Organizers said it was a slightly modified version of Ginsburg’s workout, relying on body weight in places where the justice uses actual weights.
Part of the proceeds from #SweattoInspire benefit Step Up Women’s Network, an empowerment organization for girls from under-resourced communities. Now through April 11, LUNA is offering a 20 percent discount on all bars sold at LUNAbar.com to raise awareness about the gender pay gap (while supplies last). The discount amount will be matched with a donation of up to $100,000 to fund salary negotiation workshops hosted by AAUW.
Equal Pay Day is held in April every year to reflect how far into the year the average American woman has to work to earn as much as a man did by Dec. 31 of the previous year. The symbolic day is different for women of color, coming in August for African American women and in November for Latinas. To fan the flames of your outrage with an Equal Pay Day infographic, click here.
(Top photo caption: Anna Hagopian (left), cofounder of The Paleo Cookie and Alex Curatolo (right), founder of Belli’s coldpressed juices, strike a pose during the #SweattoInspire workout. Both offered samples of their [freakin’ delicious] products during the event.)