The talk was about gender and pay equity, but in many ways equity rode in the passenger seat, as it was empowerment that did the driving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the most empowering moment was not of anything one woman said, but of what one woman did. In the face of recent death threats, Minnesota\u2019s 5th<\/sup> District congresswoman, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D) was front and center for a public town hall held April 24 at La Do\u00f1a Cerveceria in North Minneapolis. The meeting drew more than 100 participants who heard from the congresswoman and others on the topic of gender pay equality; in specific, the passage of the Omar co-sponsored bill \u2013 the Paycheck Fairness Act \u2013 that if passed by the Senate and signed by the president would put legal protections in place to bring about workplace pay equality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even prior to Omar walking in, the space seemed to be abuzz, with casual conversation about empowerment as DJ Shannon Blowtorch played an eclectic mix of women\u2019s anthems that included Dolly Parton\u2019s \u201c9 to 5,\u201d Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s \u201cRun the World (Girls)\u201d and Blowtorch\u2019s former bandmate, Lizzo\u2019s \u201cJuice.\u201d And after Omar emerged from a side door, flanked by security, and with her young daughter at her side, the conversation \u2013 not Omar \u2013 was the focal point. That point \u2026 we have a serious problem when it comes to gender and pay, and that problem is compounded by ethnicity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s a strategic and explicit war on people of color,\u201d said Richfield Mayor Maria Regan Gonzalez. \u201cAll of these systems \u2026 incarceration, education, economic systems \u2026 are perfectly designed to disadvantage our people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWomen are paid 65 percent less than their male counterparts \u2026 that\u2019s 10 months of daycare; one year of college,\u201d said Alex West Steinman, co-founder and CEO of The Coven, a creative workspace for women and non-binary individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pay equity conversation was more than 15 minutes in before Omar spoke; driving home the point about the dual deficit women of color face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBlack women are paid 61 cents (to every dollar paid to a white man), Latina women, 53 cents, Native Americans, 58 cents,\u201d said Omar. \u201cClearly the pay gap is compounded by the racial gap and at the end of the day these pennies add up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Omar and Gonzalez stressed the importance of coalition-building in the fight for equity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen we\u2019re not approaching (this issue) with an intersectional lens, then we\u2019re often leaving behind someone,\u201d said Omar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c(Those benefiting from inequality are) doing divide and conquer and it\u2019s working very well,\u201d said Gonzalez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many believe one of the reasons Omar is so vilified by those on the right \u2013 most notably, President Donald Trump \u2013 is because of her own intersectionality as a woman, a Somali-American and a Muslim. Omar agrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe president \u2013 and the Republican Party in large \u2013 always find ways to demonize and villainize women and women of color,\u201d said Omar, explaining why she and several of her freshmen women in Congress counterparts have drawn almost unmitigated hatred from the right. \u201cBut (in fights with Omar, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [D-N.Y.], Rashida Tlaib [D-Mich.] and Ayanna Pressley [D-Mass.]) for the first time they\u2019re reckoning with women who know they have equal standing and voice and are not afraid to use it. They know we\u2019re their biggest threat because we\u2019re fighting for the many and not the few. They want to set the narrative that we are \u2018other,\u2019 but the people are rejecting their tactics.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The talk was about gender and pay equity, but in many ways equity rode in the passenger seat, as it was empowerment that did the driving. And the most empowering moment was not of anything one woman said, but of what one woman did. In the face of recent death threats, Minnesota\u2019s 5th District congresswoman, Rep. 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