Staff members of the Aquinas College Jane Hibbard Idema Women's Students Center have selected Tuesday, February 14 as the day to spotlight the inequality in pay between men and women. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the lobby of the Academic Building, bake goods will be sold at prices that reflect the disparity between male and female wages in the United States.

The following information was taken from the National Committee on Pay Equity (www.pay-equity.org). The gap between median earnings of full-time, year-round workers narrowed in 2005, with women's earnings 77 percent (the same as in 2002) of men's, up from 76 percent in 2004. The narrowing of the gap was achieved because women's earnings dropped only 1 percent ($31,223), while men's earnings dropped 2.3 percent ($40,798). Over a working lifetime, the wage disparity costs the average American woman and her family an estimated $523,000 in lost wages impacting Social Security benefits and pensions.

For additional information or questions, please call the Jane Hibbard Idema Women's Studies Center at (616) 632-2979 or visit the Web site.