Women’s Commission to Refresh Its Status Report and Renew the Push on Pay Equity

Pasadena’s Commission on the Status of Women plans to spend the coming year building the case it brings to City Hall: updating its 2021 report on the well-being of women, gathering community input to inform it and continuing to educate the community on pay equity. The advisory body is scheduled to take up that agenda Wednesday, July 1, when it votes on its work plan for Fiscal Year 2026–2027.

The first of the commission’s three objectives, “Knowledge and Insights,” calls for producing a new edition of the 2021 Report on the Status of Women in Pasadena “on the well-being of women, with a focus on recommendations,” and for holding listening sessions to shape it. The committee’s purpose, the plan states, is “to provide actionable insights on issues and conditions impacting women.” Commissioners Maura Harrington Roggero, Luisa Ortega, Robin Allen and Jill Thompson are assigned to it; the committee also intends closer work with the mayor, City Council and council liaisons and to “continue to educate and inform the Pasadena community regarding pay equity and the California Equal Pay Pledge.”

The commission’s broader charge, as the plan restates it, is “to advise the council on the special needs and concerns of women of all ages, races, religions, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and economic and social circumstances” — a mandate that runs from studying discrimination to recommending policies, procedures, programs and legislation.

A second committee, “Resources,” is built around “equipping women with resources to navigate systems,” the plan says. Its work would include workshops on financial literacy, voter education and healthy relationships; an update to the commission’s 2018–2022 Survival Guide, to be done in coordination with the Senior Commission; and the annual HERstory event. Commissioners Crystal Aceves, Harrington Roggero, Betty Villarreal and Jennifer Thibault are assigned to that effort.

A third committee, “Connections and Partnerships,” aims to “enhance the Commission’s visibility and effectiveness” through community and city-sponsored events, according to the plan. Its members — Thibault, Harrington Roggero, Ortega and Ziandry Peralta — would encourage schools, colleges and women of all ages to attend meetings and would partner with relevant city commissions.

The commission is also set to take up updates to its presentation calendar, which lists no speaker for July. Sessions still to be scheduled include a tentative appearance by Altadena Girls, a presentation from the National Day Laborer Organization Network on its services, and a presentation by the Pasadena Public Health Department on “Community Health Data and Disparities Affecting Women in Pasadena,” to be delivered by Matthew Feaster.

How far any of it travels is not the commission’s to decide. The work plan would steer its events, research and outreach through June 2, 2027, but any recommendations it produces — including those tied to the updated status report — would reach the City Council, which would choose whether to act.

The Commission on the Status of Women is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, July 1, in the Jackie Robinson Community Center, 1020 North Fair Oaks Avenue, in Pasadena. For more information call (626) 744-4141 or visit https://www.cityofpasadena.net/commissions/agendas/.