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City Studies

Pay Dirt

Recent studies show that men and women still receive different pay for their work. Why? Are societal factors to blame? Individual choices that women make? Other factors?

In the fall of 2013, CUP teaching artist Pema Domingo-Barker worked with Danielle Cardarelli’s senior Economics class at the Urban Assembly School for Criminal Justice in Boro Park, Brooklyn to explore the differences in male and female salaries.

To get perspectives on why there might be a gender wage gap, students interviewed Mary Lou Davis from the American Association of University Women. To learn about ways to address the gap, they participated in a salary negotiation workshop with Jane Pendergast and Roli Wendorf from the WAGE Project.

Students created drawings and photos as a way to process the information they collected in interviews. With help from graphic designers Megan Bullock and Joelle Riffle, the group made a pamphlet that investigates reasons behind the wage gap, and includes tips on how to fight it.