SUPPORTING & EMPOWERING WOMEN

KAPLOWITZ 2010 | SUPPORTING & EMPOWERING WOMEN

Promoting Equality for All

I. SUPPORTING WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE

New York has a long history of hardworking women who, from farms to factories to

corporate offices, have helped create, drive and sustain New York’s economy. Yet

women in New York still on average make only 84 cents for every dollar earned by a

man. Closing the wage gap and ensuring women are paid fairly is of critical importance

as New York continues its great effort to ensure fairness in the workplace.

Pay Equity policies are important tools to eliminate a pervasive type of gender

discrimination in the workplace and to close the gender-based wage gap. Specifically, it

remedies biased pay scales that devalue the skills, responsibilities and other features of

jobs performed primarily by women. By revaluing traditionally undervalued features of

female occupations and eliminating bias, Pay Equity will increase the earnings of

underpaid, female-dominated jobs and the workers in those jobs, thereby narrowing the

gender wage gap.

Mike Kaplowitz will advocate passionately for working women throughout the state to

finally close the wage gap and ensure all hardworking New Yorker’s a fair wage for a

day’s work.

WWW.MIKEKAPLOWITZ.COM 1
 SUPPORTING & EMPOWERING WOMEN

 Supporting and Strengthening the Fair Pay Act – It is time to take real steps to end the

unfair treatment of New York’s working women. By prohibiting wage discrimination

and increasing transparency, victims can determine when they are being discriminated

against, and we can prevent it from continuing. Fair Pay legislation provides the State

and its citizens with better legal tools to be paid fairly for what they do. Women also

deserve a partner who will follow up on the recommendations and conclusions of the

Department of Labor regarding wage inequities to ensure that employers understand their

obligations and abide by them.

Other priorities to ensure gender equality in the workplace include:

 Prohibiting discrimination in the workplace – We need to ensure that women are not

discriminated against at the interview table either, and need to reduce work-related

harassment and incidents that diminish productivity and self-confidence.

 Supporting our working families – It’s time to start exploring creative ways to make

paid family leave and paid sick leave available for New York’s entire workforce - men

and women.

State of the Law:

Despite federal and state civil protections in place, women still make only 84 cents to every

dollar that men make in New York. Assemblywoman John’s Fair Pay Act (A. 3911) would

ban discrimination against employees on the basis of “sex, race and/or national origin” and

the practice of compensating employees in equivalent jobs differently, or by compensating

equivalent jobs disproportionately when they are occupied by a particular gender or race.

WWW.MIKEKAPLOWITZ.COM 2
 SUPPORTING & EMPOWERING WOMEN

Importantly, this legislation also stipulates that an independent arbiter would be empowered

to carefully examine wages in different positions and setting guidance (a party would not

know they were being discriminated against unless they knew about salary discrepancies and

market rates for equivalent positions).

While this bill represents an important first step, it can be strengthened in a number of ways by:

 Clarifying prohibitions on “labor organizations” to provide better guidance as to what

conduct during collective bargaining negotiations would constitute discrimination;

 Clarifying and expanding the whistleblower protections – in particular, defining “adverse

actions or [discriminatory behavior]” – so that retaliatory action by employers against

those employees who attempt to assert their rights or draw attention to incidents of wage

discrimination is prohibited.

 Instituting a separate right of action for the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Bureau to

pursue wage discrimination cases, especially those involving fields dominated by a

particular sex or race.

The Many Benefits of Fair Pay:

 Pay Equity Reduces State and Local Taxes: By ensuring that both men and women are

earning fair, livable wages in return for their hard work, financial security is provided to

more and more New Yorkers, reducing the demand for state-supported social services

and relieving strain on an already overburdened safety net.

WWW.MIKEKAPLOWITZ.COM 3
 SUPPORTING & EMPOWERING WOMEN

 Pay Equity Presents Minimal Implementation Costs: Based on experiences in other

states, effective pay equity programs can be implemented with minimal costs. In

Minnesota, the state spent only 3.7 percent of its payroll budget over a four-year period,

decreasing the wage gap among its 30,000 employees by six to eight percent. The state of

Washington implemented its pay equity plan over a ten-year period, resulting in

increased pay for women in the lowest job classes by about ten percent. The total cost to

the state was only 2.6 percent of payroll.1

 Pay Equity Expands the Middle Class and Reduces Poverty: By cracking down on

occupational and wage discrimination across a broad spectrum of jobs and industries, pay

equity will support our efforts to reduce poverty levels among the working poor and offer

countless hardworking middle class families greater economic security.

 Pay Equity Boosts Business Performance and Productivity: Fair pay for employees

can lead to greater productivity by raising morale among workers who are confident that

they will receive fair pay for their work. By compensating workers for the fair value of

their work, pay equity can help businesses recruit and retain the best-qualified workers

 Pay Equity Supports Working Minorities and Increases the Diversity of New York’s

Workforce: Across jobs typically dominated by people of color, workers earn

approximately 66% of white men earn, but with pay equity, that disparity would decrease

1
http://www.pay-equity.org/info-Q&A-Act.html

WWW.MIKEKAPLOWITZ.COM 4
 SUPPORTING & EMPOWERING WOMEN

substantially, and people of color would earn approximately 94 percent of what white

men earn.2

 Pay Equity Strengthens our Economic Recovery: A recent report by the Global

Markets Institute highlighted the fact that improved gender equality and greater buying

power among women will benefit important sectors of our economy, including food,

healthcare, education, childcare, apparel, consumer durables and financial services. 3

Spending driven by women is expected to support the development of human capital,

which will fuel economic growth in the years ahead. At the same time, economic growth

should continue to bolster gender equality, creating a virtuous cycle of growing equality

and wealth for our communities.

II. ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN & REFORMING FAMILY LAW

Despite meaningful strides in public awareness, high rates of violence against women

persist in New York. Of highest concern is the rate of violence against our young women

– one study examining New York’s high school students found that 16 percent had

already experienced sexual violence at some point in their life, and more than half of

those who had dated had experienced some form of physical violence from their

partners.4 This prevalence of violence has a tremendously negative impact on the physical

2
Stone, Pamela and Arielle Kuperberg. 2005. “Anti-Discrimination vs. Anti-Poverty? A Comparison of Pay Equity
and Living Wage Reforms.” Journal of Women, Politics & Policy 27:23-29.
3
Global Markets Institute: The Power of the Purse – Gender Equality and Middle Class Spending (2009), available
at http://www2.goldmansachs.com/ideas/demographic-change/power-of-purse-doc.pdf.
4
NYC Alliance Partners and Peers: Sexual and Dating Violence Among NYC Youth (2008), available at
http://www.svfreenyc.org/research_par_3.html.

WWW.MIKEKAPLOWITZ.COM 5
 SUPPORTING & EMPOWERING WOMEN

and mental health of too many New York women, and jeopardizes our economic security

and public safety.

Mike Kaplowitz is committed to ending violence against women in all its forms and

carrying on the good work that our Democratic majority began, including:

 Continuing and monitoring reforms of the order protection system until every

domestic violence or sexual violence survivor is fully protected. These efforts will

complement recent accomplishments at the state and local level.

 Continuing to update antiquated divorce and maintenance laws to ensure fairness

and prevent financially weaker spouses from being taken advantage of during prolonged

litigation or being force to settle for the wrong reasons.

 Prohibiting employment or housing discrimination against domestic violence

survivors.

 Combating dating violence, particularly teen dating violence, through prevention and

awareness programs, including creation of a Teen Dating Violence & Bullying Task

Force.

 Establishing mechanisms for domestic violence and stalking survivors to protect their

new locations from abusers, including an address confidentiality program.

 Reviewing policies regarding sex offender registries to ensure that they are effectively

protecting our communities.

WWW.MIKEKAPLOWITZ.COM 6
 SUPPORTING & EMPOWERING WOMEN

State of the Law:

 The Order of Protection System in New York has been modified by a number common

sense proposals this year, including allowing for an extended time period to have orders

of protection issued (Chap. 325 of Laws of 2010), clarifying the law on dismissing

protection orders based on temporal considerations, recognizing the long-term pattern of

abuse and difficulty of litigating domestic violence (Chap. 341 of Laws of 2010),

permitting electronic transmittal of orders of protection statewide (Chap. 261 of Laws of

2010), and a law that clarifies that peace officers and police officers can serve orders of

protection during any legal stage (Chap. 446 of Laws of 2010). I will work with

survivors’ advocates and criminal justice officials to track the progress and

implementation of these critical reforms.

 Chapter 371 of the laws of 2010 established responsible guidelines for the courts to

follow in distributing post-marital income during divorce proceedings. This legislation

allows low-income spouses to establish their right to maintenance during the interim

period between the initial filing and the granting of the divorce, a critical period of

transition, rather than having to undergo lengthy litigation to secure this right. However,

it does not address maintenance issues that may arise after the divorce is finalized. We

await the findings of the Law Review Commission that was directed to study and make

recommendations regarding post-divorce maintenance laws.

WWW.MIKEKAPLOWITZ.COM 7
 SUPPORTING & EMPOWERING WOMEN

 The Governor vetoed the Senate’s housing discrimination legislation (S-5999A), which

would prohibit housing discrimination against domestic violence survivors. I will work

with legislative and criminal justice leaders to formulate a rationally-tailored definition of

“survivors” so that we can ensure access to safe, affordable housing.

 The Governor also vetoed an update to the previous year’s bill prohibiting employment

discrimination against domestic violence survivors (S-6000A). This expansion of the law

would require employers to make reasonable accommodations to permit survivors to use

their leave or to take unpaid leave to address the variety of medical, family and legal

matters associated with domestic violence. The veto was again based on the definition of

domestic violence survivor; I am committed to working with my colleagues to put

together a definition that is appropriate in scope and fully consistent with existing law.

 Currently, requirements that survivors use their actual addresses for many state programs

means that their abusers can find their new addresses through public records searches.

Another vetoed bill (S-7379) would direct creation of an address confidentiality program

whereby domestic violence survivors could have mail delivered to an address designated

by the secretary of state, who would then forward the mail to the survivors’ actual

addresses.  Though vetoed due to fiscal concerns, protecting domestic violence survivors

is the sort of activity that saves the State resources. Similar to our reevaluation of the

IOLA system of funding civil legal services, we should explore mechanisms to fund this

initiative as well. Perhaps the Governor’s IT in-sourcing program will generate

WWW.MIKEKAPLOWITZ.COM 8
 SUPPORTING & EMPOWERING WOMEN

administrative efficiencies and provide adequate technical staff to perform this

programming.

The Staggering Scope of Violence against Women in New York

 Violence against women in NY is damaging thousands of women mentally, physically,

economically, and emotionally, costing millions in associated damages and killing New

York’s economic productivity.

o In Westchester County, there were nearly 2,500 incidents of domestic violence

involving assault, sexual assault, and violations of protection orders last year.5

o In Putnam County, there were 165 incidents of domestic violence, more than half

of which were violations of protective orders in the last year.6

o In Dutchess County, there were over 1,200 incidents of domestic violence last

year.7

o In New York City, nearly half of all fatal violence against women (44%) was

confirmed to be the result of Intimate Partner Violence.8

5
http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/crimnet/ojsa/domesticviolence/westchester.pdf
6
http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/crimnet/ojsa/domesticviolence/putnam.pdf
7
http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/crimnet/ojsa/domesticviolence/dutchess.pdf
8
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/public/ipv-08.pdf

WWW.MIKEKAPLOWITZ.COM 9
 SUPPORTING & EMPOWERING WOMEN

Teen Violence

 Since 1999, physical dating violence reported by public high school females in NYC has

risen almost 50%. High school survey data indicate that reported physical dating

violence increased from 7.1% in 1999 to 10.6% in 2005.9

 About one in three high school students have been or will be involved in an abusive

relationship.10

 Forty percent of teenage girls aged 14 to 17 say they know someone their age who has

been hit or beaten by a boyfriend.11

 Over 16% of New York City high school students reported experiencing sexual violence

at some point in their lives.12

Costs

 The New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence reported that nearly

30,000 individuals were denied shelter in New York facilities, 16,000 of which were

children. 13
9
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/public/ipv-08.pdf
10
http://www.acadv.org/dating.html#statistics
11
http://www.acadv.org/dating.html#statistics
12
NYC Alliance Partners and Peers: Sexual and Dating Violence Among NYC Youth (2008), available at
http://www.svfreenyc.org/research_par_3.html.
13
http://www.opdv.state.ny.us/statistics/nydata/2009/nys2009data.pdf

WWW.MIKEKAPLOWITZ.COM 10
 SUPPORTING & EMPOWERING WOMEN

o The most common reason for denial was that the facility was “at capacity.”

 Over 335,000 domestic violence and sexual assault hotline calls were received by New

York State in 2009.

 25% of assaults reported by police officers outside of New York City were committed by

intimate partners.

 207,726 Orders of Protection filed in New York State courts were recorded in the

Domestic Violence Registry.

III. BUILDING ECONOMIC SECURITY & SUPPORTING WORKING

PARENTS

Mike Kaplowitz recognizes that economic security for women is crucial for both the

well-being of individuals and families and for the economic health and vitality of the

state as a whole, and he is committed to promoting policies that create greater security,

including:

 Ensuring that women benefit from job creation legislation, including emerging

opportunities in the public health and green-collar jobs sector.

 Expanding workplace opportunities for women in non-traditional fields.

WWW.MIKEKAPLOWITZ.COM 11
 SUPPORTING & EMPOWERING WOMEN

 Ensuring the enforcement (and monitoring the impact) of the landmark divorce

reforms implemented this year (e.g. no-fault divorce, interim counsel fees, post-

marital income guidelines). Mike Kaplowitz will work hard to ensure that these

reforms are successful in protecting the economic security of divorced women,

particularly women who have divorced after years outside the workforce.

In these challenging economic times, it is especially important to help families afford

quality child care, enabling parents to get and keep a job and ensuring safe, stable

environments for children, promoting their overall growth and learning. Ensuring access

to affordable, high-quality early childhood education and before-and-after school

programs can maximize the possibilities of our children’s bright futures, and ease the

burden for families trying to make ends meet.

Mike Kaplowitz is committed to providing support for children, while also giving

working parents the foundation they need to raise their families. Important efforts

include:

 Ensuring the availability of high-quality child care throughout the 40th Senatorial

District, and build on the changes made last year by the “Safer, More Affordable

Child Care Act.”

WWW.MIKEKAPLOWITZ.COM 12
 SUPPORTING & EMPOWERING WOMEN

 Encouraging collaboration between the various state agencies that have

overlapping oversight over early childhood care and education in order to reduce

waste while improving services.

 Exploring fiscally responsible ways to expand state-funded pre-kindergarten

programs.

 Enhancing the minimum health and safety standards for child care facilities.

WWW.MIKEKAPLOWITZ.COM 13