Tell John McCain: Equal Pay for Equal Work!
http://pol.moveon.org/fairpay/index.htmlJust in time for Mother's Day, Senator John McCain has opposed the Fair Pay Act-
-a bill that would guarantee women equal pay for equal work.What's worse is that he said the solution to employment discrimination
was for women to get more "education and training."
Can you sign this public statement calling out McCain and urging him
to support efforts to help guarantee women equal pay for equal work?
Please Click link to send the message below: http://pol.moveon.org/fairpay/index.htmlI'm offended by Senator McCain's statement that women need more education and training
instead of guaranteed pay equity. Senator McCain and every other senator must support
legislation that would help guarantee equal pay for equal work.
BONUS: Please upload your current resume in Microsoft Word or PDF format
so we can show John McCain that women have plenty of education and training.
Important: Please make sure to remove your contact information from the file before you post it. Pay equity is a serious issue that faces women and mothers all across America.
Consider these key facts: 2
Women make less for the same work. On average, women who work full time all year
only make $0.77 for every dollar their male counterparts make.
The pay gap is even worse for mothers. Mothers only make $0.73 to a man's dollar
and single mothers only make about $0.60 to a man's dollar. Wage discrimination cuts across educational levels. For example, for workers 25 years old or older who had some high school education, women's annual earnings were around $15,162, compared to $24,092 for men. But even earning a bachelor's degree didn't help. Women with a bachelor's degree made around $38,221 a year, while men at the same level made $55,425.
In some places, the pay gap has actually increased. A study done by the U.S. Government Accounting Office found that women managers across 10 industries not only made less than their male counterparts, but in seven of those industries the pay gap had actually increased between 1995 and 2001.
Our country has had an enforceable equal pay law from 1964 to May 2007, until the Supreme Court ruled against Lilly Ledbetter. Lilly Ledbetter worked for Goodyear Tire for 19 years, and got paid less than any man. She didn't learn until near the end of her employment that she was earning less for the same work. She sued and she won. But then the Supreme Court in a 5 to 4 decision overturned her award saying she failed to bring her suit within 180 days of the first discriminatory act. With this single stroke, they gutted the ability to enforce the law. The Fair Pay Act simply restores the ability to enforce a law that's been on the books for forty years.
Senator McCain's statements aren't just misinformed—they're a sad reminder that a lot of politicians are totally out of touch with the hard realities facing working women. Please speak out today.
http://pol.moveon.org/fairpay/index.htmlThanks for all you do.
–Nita, Joan, Karin, Anna, and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Friday, May 9th, 2008
Sources:
1. McCain dismisses equal pay legislation, says women need more 'training and education.', ThinkProgress, April 23, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3643&id=12625-9167649-LnmUvs&t=62. "Congress must act to close the wage gap for women," National Women's Law Center
http://www.nwlc.org/fairpay/PayEquityFactSheet_050508.pdfA Peaceful Revolution: Moms Leading on Fair Pay, Huffington Post, January 22, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3644&id=12625-9167649-LnmUvs&t=7