The gender pay gap still plagues women nationwide. On average, women workers still earn 77 cents on every dollar their male counterparts make, an income gap that translates to a loss of over $10,000 per year. The gender wage gap is even more striking for women of color: African-American women make 61 cents and Latinas make 52 cents for every dollar white men earn.
April 12th, the 102nd day of the year, is Equal Pay Day, designated as such because women would have to work 102 more days into 2011 to earn what their male counterparts made in 2010 alone.
Today Congress will re-introduce the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill that died in committee last November. The Paycheck Fairness Act would strengthen the Equal Pay Act, signed into law by President Kennedy in 1963. While the Equal Pay Act was a major victory for women, it is in dire need of updates to ensure that women have full equality. The Paycheck Fairness Act would give women the same remedies for gender wage discrimination that are now available to victims of discrimination based on race or national origin. It would also bar employers from retaliating against employees for discussing their salaries with each other—a problem that continues to plague many women.
Equal Pay Day reminds us that there is progress to be made when it comes to women’s economic equality – and just in time. While the White House and the Congress have agreed on a the FY 2011 budget, it will soon consider the budget for FY 2012. Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) introduced the GOP 2012 budget plan last week, a blueprint that would further imperil women’s bid for full equality, with severe cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Pell Grants for education and other programs that benefit Americans in poverty – most of whom are women. Indeed, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Ryan’s 2012 budget gets about two-thirds of its $4 trillion in cuts from programs that benefit low-income Americans.
On Equal Pay Day, Congress should reconsider and pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. But future equality also depends on budget that is both balanced and fair to all – a fact that must be remembered as Congress begins to debate the FY 2012 budget.
Learn more about Legal Momentum's work on employment discrimination.
It’s time we realized that equal pay is a pressing social issue that affects not only women, but also families. Women’s incomes are critical to families’ economic well-being. The majority of married couples depend on earnings from women to support their households, and close to one-quarter of children live in single-mother families. Experts estimate that there would be at least a 50 percent reduction in poverty if women earned the same incomes as men in their field.
Posted by: Atlanta Roofing | April 13, 2011 at 04:13 AM