Miami Beach

Ladies in Red

Women march for equal rights and fair pay

By Charlotte Libov

The flotilla of about 30 women, swathed in red dresses, T-shirts and shawls, circled and chanted along the Lincoln Road pedestrian mall, marching west from the grassy platform at the intersection with Euclid Avenue.

Some were armed with reddish-pink parasols to protect from the sun; others carried water bottles or red foil-wrapped Ghirardelli chocolate squares. But all were doing their best to point out to the somewhat perplexed shoppers and merchants they passed that April 22 was “Women in the Red” Day, and that women still earn less than their male counterparts, said Debra Liebowitz, event chair and vice chair of the Miami Beach Commission for Women, which sponsored the one-hour march.

In an age when a woman is running for president, the disparity seems particular galling, she noted.

According to the National Commission on Pay Equity, women working full-time year-round earn approximately 23 percent less than their male counterparts. The commission contends there are multiple reasons: Many women are still segregated into low-paying occupations; there are differences in education, experience or time in the workforce; and discrimination.

Liebowitz also insisted that hopes of someday passing a national Equal Rights Amendment still exist. “This is not a dead issue,” she insisted, noting that the city of Miami Beach is one of a few cities with a provision that women receive equal pay.

The Women in the Red group had hoped to be addressed by Mayor Matti Herrera Bower, the city’s first female and first Cuban-American mayor, but she was sick and could not attend.

On hand, though, was longtime women’s activist Elsa Urquiza, who ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Miami Beach Commission. She retired two years ago, after working 35 years for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, but has not quit the fight. Her longtime commitment to women’s rights, and anti-discrimination in general, began when she went house-hunting with her mother on Miami Beach as a teenager.

“We were looking at an apartment at Sixth and Lenox and I was translating for my mother,” she said. “The landlord looked at my mother and asked, ‘Are you Cuban?’ I think she was pleased because she thought he was going to compliment her, so she smiled and said ‘yes,’ and then he spit right in her face. I never forgot that, and I think that’s why I’ve spent my life doing this.”

Meanwhile, as the march, which started at noon, drew to a close, the women gathered their things. “This was a successful protest,” said Liebowitz. “Next year, it will be bigger.”

Comments? E-mail letters@miamisunpost.com