Advertisement

PLATFORM : Agent of Change

Share
MURIEL E. KRASZEWSKI of San Clemente, an insurance broker who spearheaded a landmark equal-pay suit, was surprised by census data that women's pay lags 31% behind men's. She told The Times:

In this day and age, I thought it had been corrected a little bit. (Big companies) don’t learn.

(My suit) started back in 1973 and ’74. I was doing exactly the same thing as (the agents at the insurance firm where I worked). I was able to do the same job, so I wanted the same pay. They could have told me no, prior to (the suit), “because you are a woman.” I was raised in a household where I would have taken it as a reason. At the time I was raised--I’m close to 60--the woman’s place was in the home.

(But) the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. They wasted two years of my time, and kept telling me how qualified I was. They just were patting me on the head and hoping I would go away.

Advertisement

(My advice to others) is to fight for the equal pay, whether they’re a teacher or a ditch digger or a bus driver or whatever. There are so many single-parent homes that women not only deserve, but need, the same amount of pay that men are making.

Advertisement