For International Women’s Day, I wanted to talk about Equal Pay Day, something that is very important but not many people know about (in the UK at least). The date of Equal Pay Day (EPD) changes every year and is celebrated slightly differently in each country, but at its core it is a day that recognises the gender pay gap.
 
In the UK, EPD usually falls in November and it marks the day that women effectively would stop earning money for the year if they were paid the same hourly amount as men when they reached their pay amount. For example, if a man earns £12.50 an hour to make £26,000 a year, a woman earning £12.50 an hour at the same rate would reach her salary of £22,204 by November for doing the same job.
 
The Fawcett Society calculate this each year by taking the full-time mean average gender pay gap across all companies and workers to work out EPD. In 2018, that day was November 10th. In 2019 it was November 14th. In 2020 it was November 20th.

​Luckily, this shows that the gender pay gap is closing in the UK. However, the gap is still 11.5% for full-time workers according to the Fawcett Society, which is still way too high and shows that we still have a long way to go.
 
The USA and Germany celebrate EPD slightly differently. They mark it as the day women make as much as men did in the last year. For example, if a man earnt €26,000 between January and December 2019, women in the same roles won’t meet the same €26,000 until March or April 2020.
 
Germany is shown to have one of the biggest gender pay gaps in Europe. In a report gathered by DeutscheWelle, in2018 women made 20% less than men, and this only went down by 1% in 2019. As EPD has not happened yet, their gap is yet to be released for 2020. For comparison, the EU has an average 15% gender pay gap across the bloc, went down to 14.5% in 2019 and then 14.1% in 2020.

​In the USA, there is the March EPD for women, but there are also four other EPD that cover Asian-American women, African and Black American women, Native American women, and Latinx women. In 2019, these days were (in list order) March 5th, August 22nd, September 23rd, and November 20th. Mothers also have a separate day – in 2018 this was June 10th.

​This year, the average day will fall on March 24th. Women earnt $0.82 for every dollar men earnt last year.
 
The gender pay gap isn’t going to go away quickly. This is only a brief overview on how big the problem is. This year’s theme for International Woman’s Day is Choose to Challenge – this year I choose to challenge gender pay disparity and will be educating myself on this issue as much as I can over the next year. I will also be marking as many Equal Pay Days this year as I can. I urge you to do the same. It is only when we work together that we can stop injustice and disparity in the world.

Today is the 17th May 2020, hope everyone is doing well. Every few days, especially at the moment, I will be doing a good news update for the podcast and for my blog, where the stories will be written out in more detail, with links for you all to read into them more yourselves. I hope that this brings a little light to lockdown.

On this Day

First of all, a quick little bit of On This Day In History, supplied by Good News Network. In 1992, the World Health Organisation officially removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses. And finally, in 1954, Brown v Board of Education passes in the United States, meaning that schools could no longer be racially specific.
 

Care home in France has zero covid-19 cases

Staff at a nursing home in Vilanova, France have received some incredible news after deciding to quarantine with their patients at the beginning of lockdown on March 17th. 29 workers joined Valerie Martin, who runs the home, bringing pillows, sleeping bags and mattresses to the care home, volunteering to sleep on the floor so they could carry on working during lockdown. Martin was determined that none of her 106 elderly residents would become part of a statistic. By May 4th, 12 of the staff were left when they learnt the news that covid-19 tests for all staff and residents had come back negative. The total 47 days of lockdown were filled with laughter, fun and communal games and meals, with Martin describing it as ‘a holiday camp with moments of total joy’. So for all of you out there doubting the impact of lockdown, this is solid proof that it is the most beneficial thing we can currently do. Don’t be selfish, stay at home, stop the spread of the virus.
 

India's carbon emissions have fallen for first time in 40 years

The latest in positive climate change news, India’s Annual Carbon Emissions have fallen for the first time in four decades. Not only did CO2 emissions fall by 15% in March and 30% in April, the last 12 months have seen Indians demand for power slow dramatically. March shutdowns capped the growth of power generation from coal, oil and gas at below zero for the first time in 30 years. March also saw a 6.7% increase in use of renewable energy and a fall in total coal deliveries from home and abroad, which is absolutely fantastic. Imagine what we could do worldwide if other countries started taking the same initiative! we contributed to climate change and we can absolutely help slow it down and let the planet recover, even if it’s just a little bit.
 

Project Seagrass is replanting sea meadows

A little more environmental news for you. Project Seagrass (made up of Sky Ocean Rescue, WWF and Swansea University) has currently planted over 1 million seagrass seeds around the British Isles to help restore sea meadows. This is incredible news as sea meadows are believed to be able to capture carbon 35 times faster than tropic rainforests, such as the Amazon. Seagrass filters nutrients that comes from industrial discharge and stormwater runoff and prevents these harmful nutrients from being washed out into the sea, therefore preserving marine wildlife and habitats. Seagrass also stabilises the sea bottom, provides food and habitat for marine life, maintains water quality and supports local economies. The UK has lost 92% of its seagrass over the last 100 years. Teams believe that once these meadows mature, 160,000 fish and 200 million invertebrates could return to these habitats.

If you see any stories you want me to talk about, please send them over to me on my Instagram (@niamhs_randomthoughts) or my twitter (@niamhblogs), or comment them down below!