Jul 30, 2008
In 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=8024&elq=FB1B654BAB474B549A1894973DB07737">Equal Pay Act (EPA) into law, making it illegal for employers to pay unequal wages to men and women who perform equal work. At the time,
http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=8025&elq=FB1B654BAB474B549A1894973DB07737">women earned 59 cents to every dollar earned by men. Today, a pay gap persists, as women earn 77 cents to every dollar that men earn. The Institute of Women's Policy Research found that this wage disparity will cost women anywhere from
http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=8027&elq=FB1B654BAB474B549A1894973DB07737">$400,000 to $2 million over a lifetime in lost wages.
An April Senate report found that in contrast to previous slowdowns, the current economic downturn
http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=8028&elq=FB1B654BAB474B549A1894973DB07737">"is hitting women harder than men.
They are suffering more job losses and larger reductions in wages than the general population." Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) have introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act (PFA), which will strengthen current laws against wage discrimination. The bill passed the House Education And Labor Committee last week and is scheduled to come to a floor vote later this week. As DeLauro urged, "The marketplace alone will not correct this injustice -- that is why we need a
http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=8029&elq=FB1B654BAB474B549A1894973DB07737">legislative solution."
UNACCEPTABLE STATUS QUO:
While the wage gap has narrowed throughout the 20th century, gender-based financial disparities between are, in many cases, growing. http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/pdf/single_women.pdf">Unmarried women, for example, earn only 56 cents for every dollar that married men make. In the last year, the unemployment rate among adult women workers increased 20 percent, in contrast to a 17 percent increase among adult men.
As women get older, the wage gap broadens: females aged 45 to 64 earn only 71 percent of what men earn, a pain exacerbated by the necessity to prepare for retirement. In the current subprime crisis, despite their better overall credit scores, women are over 30 percent more likely to have expensive subprime loans and are at greater risk of facing foreclosure. Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) noted, "Between 1963 and now, the wage gap has narrowed by less than half a cent a year. At this rate, it would take about another 50 years before men and women reach parity in pay in this country."
Currently, there is not a single state in which women have gained pay equality with men.RESTORING EQUALITY:
http://www.pay-equity.org/info-leg.html">The Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 1338 and S.766) would "close loopholes that have http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=8035&elq=FB1B654BAB474B549A1894973DB07737">allowed employers to avoid responsibility for discriminatory pay" and strengthen accountability in the workplace. The legislation increases penalties for sex discrimination in pay unless the company has a business-related reason for the inequality in wages. The PFA puts gender discrimination sanctions on equal footing with other forms of wage discrimination such as those based on race, disability, or age, allowing women to file lawsuits for compensatory and punitive damages. The bill also prohibits employers retaliating against employees who share salary information with their co-workers. The legislation also strengthens http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=8036&elq=FB1B654BAB474B549A1894973DB07737">opportunities for women. The Act requires that the Department of Labor "improve outreach and training efforts to work with employers in order to eliminate pay disparities" and "creates a new grant program to help strengthen the negotiation skills of girls and women."STALLING EQUALITY EFFORTS:
Failing to note the http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/04/why_would.html?elq=FB1B654BAB474B549A1894973DB07737">persistent inequalities between men and women, congressional conservatives claim the Paycheck Fairness Act is "unnecessary" because the Equal Pay Act "already makes wage discrimination illegal" and complain about "increased litigation costs." Conservatives seem to be worried about employers being required to pay women a fair wage, but PFA simply closes loopholes in existing law so that http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=8035&elq=FB1B654BAB474B549A1894973DB07737">fair pay laws can be better enforced. Furthermore, conservatives' record on equal pay is dismal. The PFA received its first hearing in 2007 -- after progressive captured Congress -- while the legislation sat in conservative-controlled Congress for a decade. While the bill enjoys the support of
http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=8038&elq=FB1B654BAB474B549A1894973DB07737">230 House co-sponsors and 22 Senate co-sponsors, conservatives have consistently mounted vigorous efforts to stall equal pay legislation. In April, Senate conservatives blocked cloture on the
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/04/why_would.html?elq=FB1B654BAB474B549A1894973DB07737">Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would have rectified the Supreme Court decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear "that made it much harder for women and other workers to pursue pay discrimination claims."
http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=8040&elq=FB1B654BAB474B549A1894973DB07737">Labor Secretary Elaine Chao has recommended that President Bush veto the PFA.
http://www.pay-equity.org/PDFs/PaycheckFairnessAct_2007.pdf">Paycheck Fairness Act Fact Sheet (pdf)
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