by Jill Finkelstein

Link Roundup: A Week in Women's Rights

Welcome to this week’s installment of Lilith’s Link Roundup. Each week we’ll post Jewish and feminist highlights from around the web. If there’s anything you want to be sure we know about, email us or leave a message in the comments section below.

This past week has been a big, yet not so successful week for Women’s Rights. On Wednesday, the Paycheck Fairness Act lost by two votes in the Senate. The Act would have deterred wage discrimination by closing loopholes in the Equal Pay Act and by barring retaliation against workers who disclose their wages to coworkers. Women currently make 77 cents to $1.00 that men make. Last week, we reported that a study, conducted by Berman Jewish Policy Archive, found that there is also a significant pay gap among Jewish communal professionals. Check out the results to find out how your senator voted on the Paycheck Fairness Act.

In other Women’s Rights news, on Thursday the Senate held a hearing on CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. CEDAW was adopted by the United National General Assembly in 1979; however it has yet to be ratified by the United States. [CEDAW2010]

The Forward had an interesting blog post this week about the struggles faced by Jewish women who opt not to have children. [The Sisterhood]

–Jill Finkelstein