Mayor Walsh, AAUW to host 14 free salary negotiation workshops to mark equal pay awareness week

Mayor Martin J. Walsh, the Mayor's Office of Women's Advancement and the American Association of University Women (AAUW) today announced the launch of Boston's second "Equal Pay Awareness Week," featuring 14 free salary negotiation workshops for women who live or work in Boston. The goal of Equal Pay Awareness Week is to acknowledge the gender wage gap and its consequences, while providing the training and tools to help Boston women advocate for themselves within the workforce.

Tuesday, April 4 is "Equal Pay Day," a symbolic date when women's pay "catches up" and equals men's pay from the previous year. Women working full-time are typically paid just 80 percent on average of what white, non-Hispanic men make. That gap is larger for black and Hispanic women.

"Boston thrives when women and men have an equal playing field," said Mayor Walsh. "These salary negotiations are one step we can take to provide women with the information and tools to advocate for themselves and work towards closing the wage gap. The workshops, combined with the work we are doing with employers to report wage data anonymously, will continue to make Boston the best city for working women. With the help of AAUW Work Smart and my Office of Women's Advancement, we will continue to fight for equal pay for all."

"Salary negotiation workshops are part of AAUW's multifaceted approach to closing the gender pay gap," said Jesse B. Rauch, the senior program manager for AAUW's salary negotiation workshop programs, AAUW Start Smart and AAUW Work Smart. "Women who negotiate increase their potential to earn higher salaries and better benefits packages - and these advantages add up over time."

AAUW Work Smart salary negotiation workshops were launched in September of 2015 as a five-year partnership with the City of Boston. Since that time, the program has trained over 3,000 working women in the City, with the goal of training 8,500 Boston women by December 2017, and 85,000 women by 2020.

Registration for AAUW Work Smart in Boston free salary negotiation workshops is available online.

The following workshops will be open to press:

Monday, April 3

5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Host: She Geeks Out

Anchor (Behind the Render 121 Cafe on the First Floor)

50 Milk St.

Tuesday, April 4

6:30 p.m..- 8:30 p.m.

Host: The Latina Circle

The Coop @ Hatch Fenway

Landmark Center 401 Park Drive

*Take 8th Floor East Elevators

Thursday, April 6

6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Host: Ellevate Network Boston

Ernst Young, 200 Clarendon St.

To cover the workshop, media is required to RSVP to the Mayor's Press Office: press.office@boston.gov, or 617-635-4461. Additional information will be provided to outlets that RSVP.