Keynote Panel
Compensation Committee: Women executives and equal pay—where are we now?
Although the Equal Pay Act was passed more than 40 years ago, women—on average—are paid about 77% of what men receive. Furthermore, this wage discrepancy is largest among America’s most educated women when compared to their male counterparts. Gender-based wage gaps not only affect a woman’s spending power today but also impact her pension income in retirement. A panel of academic researchers, private executives and non-profit activists weighs in on the equal pay movement and where things stand.
Panelists
Moderator—Amy WaxLaw Professor, University of Pennsylvania Law School Amy Wax holds an MD from Harvard and a JD from Columbia. She trained as a neurologist at New York Hospital in the early 1980s, and served as a law clerk to Judge Abner J. Mikva on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. From 1988 to 1994, she worked as an attorney in the Office of the Solicitor General at the Department of Justice, arguing 15 cases before the United States Supreme Court. Before teaching at Penn, she taught at the University of Virginia Law School. Her areas of teaching and research include civil procedure, remedies, employment law, social welfare law, and the law and economics of work and family.
Linda D. HallmanExecutive Director, AAUW Linda Hallman, CAE, is the Executive Director of AAUW. Before joining AAUW in January 2008, she served as vice president of policy and government strategy of the National Alliance for Health Information Technology (NAHIT), Executive Director of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) and AMWA Foundation and as President and CEO of the American Horticultural Society (AHS). She also served for nine years in the United States Army as soprano soloist.
Maureen MahoneySenior Partner, Latham and Watkins Maureen Mahoney is a partner at Latham & Watkins, leading the firm’s appellate and constitutional practice. Between 1991 and 1993, she left the firm to serve as a U.S. Deputy Solicitor General. She has handled a range of constitutional and appellate litigation in the Supreme Court and other U.S. courts. Prior to entering private practice, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable William H. Rehnquist (then Associate Justice). She holds a JD from the University of Chicago, graduating with honors.
Constance BarkerCommissioner, EEOC Constance Barker is a Commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Previously, as a shareholder at Capell & Howard, P.C. in Montgomery, AL, she provided advice regarding the prevention of discrimination complaints and defended clients in employment discrimination lawsuits. Her public-sector experience includes four years as an assistant district attorney for the 11th and 13th Judicial Circuits of Alabama, one year as a judge for two Alabama localities, and 11 years as the general counsel for the Mobile County Public School System.
