06-01 TABLE of CONTENTS: Gender equality only on paper DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and EVENTS QUOTE by May Sarton. Gender equality only on paper Gender equality has made many strides but even after 35 years of laws demanding it in place, the average women only earn about 70 cents to a man's $1. (Black women are at 59 cents and Black men at about 90 cents; older women earn less than younger women even in the professions.)       On 06-01-1964, the Equal Pay Act became law. Two years before, July, 1962, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure requiring equal pay for equal work for women dealing in interstate commerce work, but that fall the U.S. Senate refused to take action.       It was finally passed by the Senate 05-17- 1963 after fierce lobbying by women. It was reconciled with the house version and became the law of the land June 1, 1964 - at on paper.       However, the law is often circumvented in a socially excepted manner as men are given little extra duties on paper that are rewarded with thousands of dollars in extra salary. For example, male school teachers are usually given minor coaching duties that give them extra thousands of dollars a year in salary plus expenses.       However, many younger women today are taught to scoff at the so-called wage differentials because they do not see it in their paychecks. In fact, many believe they are equal with the men who are in the next office or cubicle.       However, a study of actual pay indicates even the younger women are falling behind and they will fall behind faster as they age.       By the time today's parity-pay-woman reaches middle age, most of them will be 15% or more behind their male workers who started at the same level. Men are promoted faster and given extra responsibilities that translate into increased take- home pay.       Today's at-parity women will also be facing demotion and downsizing at the more rapid rate than the male workers. | PRIOR DATE |        | HOME |       | WOA INDEX |       | NEXT DATE |   | RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE | 06-01 DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and EVENTS Hanged 06-01-1660, Mary Dyer, American colonial-British Quaker convert whose conscience forced her back to Boston in spite of official warnings.       There she was arrested for teaching a religious belief other than those approved by the Puritan church leaders.       She had been arrested three times before. Once she was reprieved while on the gallows. Two other times she was imprisoned.       This time there was no reprive.       Dyer was a follower of Anne Hutchinson and her antinomian religious views, even following AH to Rhode Island when AH was exiled by the Massachusetts' religious leaders.       MD was executed under the strict anti- Quaker laws enacted by the very same people who came to the "New World" for religious freedom.       Dyer's hanging was not part of the witchcraft panic that gripped Salem, Massachusetts later. B. 06-01-1800, Caroline Lee Whiting, U.S. writer. Her output was limited to just a few short stories as all her time was taken with helping her husband run his school. She was not recognized as a guiding light of the school.       When he became ill, she took up writing full-time to support them, producing a series of novels with strong and brave women and dastardly men characters. Male critics (who didn't like the turnaround) scoffed at the books but they sold very well. B. 06-01-1881, Margarete Matzenauer, Hungarian soprano/contralto, voice teacher. B. 06-01-1895, Eleanor Lansing Dulles, economist specialist for the U.S. State Department for the reconstruction of West Berlin following World War II. B. 06-01-1898, Molly Picon, U.S. actor and singer, the star of New York Yiddish theater.       Known as the Sweetheart of Second Avenue, she projected a light, charming character with a great sense of humor. B. 06-01-1905, Dinor  de Carvalho, Brazilian pianist, conductor, composer, professor, and founder and director of the Feminine Orchestra of Sao Paulo (1939).       She was elected the first woman member of the Brazilian Academy of Music. B. 06-01-1909, Antonia Butler, distinguished British cellist and teacher. She often joined pianist Myra Hess in her German-air-raid-defying noon concerts in London. These noon concerts were well attended by a paper-bag luncheon crowd who munched lunch while the musicians continuing to play - and German bombs dropped nearby.       One night during an evening concert a huge German attack began. Instead of running to shelter, Antonia Butler kept the concert going to entertain the audience until the wee hours of the morning and the all-clear.       Safety regulations forbade civilians on the street during raids. There were shelters in the concert hall for the musicians but she chose not to retreat and stayed to entertain the audience.       This was the spirit that kept England fighting the Nazis until the U.S. entered the war. B. 06-01-1926, Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Baker Mortenson), once a U.S. movie actor but now a cultural icon. So many legends have developed regarding her personal life that it's almost impossible to find the woman.       She is most admired for her early films such as Some Like it Hot (1959) but her later films had a nasty edge to them as movie producers, etc., exploited her beauty.       Her life became a nightmare. Even her suicide was turned into a bizarre circus that continues today with exploitation by "adoring" fan-writers today. B. 06-01-1936, Sandra Scoppetone, U.S. writer of mysteries featuring Lauren Laureno, Lesbian private eye who has a wonderful view of New York City.       Her conversations with the natives are priceless. B. 06-01-1937, Colleen McCullough, Australian author best known for her novel The Thorn Birds that became a hit TV mini-series. She sold the paperback rights for 1.9 million in 1977, then the largest amount ever paid for a paperback. Her first novel Tim was also made into a movie. | PRIOR DATE |        | HOME |       | WOA INDEX |       | NEXT DATE |   | RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE | QUOTES DU JOUR SARTON, MAY:       "We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be."             -- May Sarton, in Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing. | PRIOR DATE |        | HOME |       | WOA INDEX |       | NEXT DATE |   | RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE |