Pay Day Bake Sale

Cuesta’s Second Annual Pay Day is set for Tuesday, April 19, 2005, in front of the High Tech Learning Center on the SLO campus and in the Courtyard on the North County Campus.

The Pay Day Bake Sale is held during Women’s History Month to raise awareness about issues of pay equity. It is supported by a variety of local vendors who donate baked goods, as well as by funding from the Cultural Diversity and Student Equity Committee (CDSE) and Associated Students of Cuesta College (ASCC). Students in the English Division and Human Development work with faculty and staff to organize, promote, and host the bake sale.

According to the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE)--the group whose efforts we support by holding the Cuesta Pay Day Bake Sale, “Equal Pay Day is observed in April to indicate how far into each year a woman must work to earn as much as a man earned in the previous year. Tuesday, the day of the Pay Day Bake Sale, symbolizes the day when women’s wages catch up to men’s wages from the previous week. Because women on average earn less, they must work longer for the same pay. For women of color, the wage gap is greater.”

At the Pay Day Bake Sale, there are two price points based on men’s and women’s differing earning power. According to NCPE, “The gap between median earnings of full-time, year-round workers widened last year, with women’s earnings 76% of men’s, down from 77% in 2002. Women’s earnings were $30,724, compared to $40,668 for men. The last time the female-to-male earnings ratio declined was 1998-99.” Members of the Cuesta community are asked to pay $1.00, 76 cents, or whatever pay equity is worth to them for cookies, cupcakes, and pasteries. Informational flyers will also be available.

To learn more about Pay Day and the National Committee on Pay Equity, go to http://www.pay-equity.org/day.html and http://www.pay-equity.org/index.html, or contact Alisa Klinger at ext. 2815) and/or Gina Reyes-Patrick at ext. 4222.