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 If
we didn't have a wage gap, we wouldn't need this coupon! |
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Michele Leber, NCPE
chair, debates
USA Today about the wage gap:
written in response to USA Today's opinion piece Why women earn less: Career choices, business ventures are bigger factors than gender bias
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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE:
Fair Pay Restoration Act
The Senate Committee
on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held
a hearing on January 24, 2008, “The Fair
Pay Restoration Act: Ensuring Reasonable Rules
in Pay Discrimination Cases.”
>> About
the hearing.
Senate
Republicans blocked action on the Lilly Ledbetter
Fair Pay Act on April 23, 2008. By a 56 to 42
vote--with all Senate Democrats and six Republicans
in support--the measure fell short of the 60 votes
needed to begin consideration of the bill. The Senate previously drafted the Fair Pay Restoration Act in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, which held that employees must sue for pay discrimination within the current 180-day statute of limitations. The Senate now is acting on the same bill passed by the House in July, which defines each discriminatory paycheck as starting the 180-day limit.
Supporters
are contacting Senators who didn't vote for the
bill from the following states: Alabama, Alaska,
Arizona, Indiana, Iowa, Florida, Nebraska, New
Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia.
Nonresidents of those states may forward
this eCard to friends, family, and contacts
who do.
Join
the Fair Pay Campaign to support this legislation.
The Fair Pay Campaign is
led by the American Association of University
Women, the Feminist Majority Foundation, Legal
Momentum, the National Organization for Women,
the National Partnership for Women and Families,
and the National Women's Law Center, with 250
other local, state, and national groups -- including
NCPE -- joining them.
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National
Women's Law Center Co-President Marcia Greenberger
told CNBC why the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay
Act is good for business. Watch
the video.
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Sen.
Ted Kennedy appeared alongside Lilly Ledbetter
on CNN to discuss the importance of the bill.
Watch
the video.
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Marcia
Greenberger spoke with Diane Rehm about pay
discrimination. Listen
to the broadcast.
- The
Washington Post and New
York Times both came out with editorials
in support of the Fair Pay Act.
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House passes Lilly Ledbetter
Fair Pay Act
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The Lilly Ledbetter Fair
Pay Act was passed by the House of Representatives
on July 31, 2007 by a 225 to 199 vote. More.
This clarifies that each
discriminatory paycheck is in fact another act
of discrimination, thus restoring the law to the
way in which it was frequently applied before
the May Supreme Court decision and ensuring that
persons who suffer wage discrimination can have
their day in court. On July 27, the White House
threatened to veto the bill. To
see how all representatives voted, click here.
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Census
statistics show Wage Gap unchanged
Women's earnings in 2006
were 76.9% of men's, leaving the wage gap statistically unchanged
from last year, according to US Census statistics
released in August 2007. Based on the median earnings
of full-time, year-round workers, women's earnings were
$32,515 and men's earnings were $42,261. Median earnings
for women of color continue to be lower, in general,
than earnings for men as a whole. In 2006, the earnings
for African American women were $30,352, 71.8% of men's
earnings, and for Latinas $25,198, 59.6% of men's, both
slight gains; Asian American women's earnings were $39,313,
93.0% of men's, an increase from last year. NCPE's
Wage Gap Over Time table
shows that the wage gap has remained static since the
turn of the century.
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Photos
from the Equal Pay Day 2007 rally on Capitol Hill
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On Equal Pay Day 2007, ABC
World News reported on the wage gap.
>> Read ABC News report, "Take
Control: How to Negotiate Your Salary"
>> Watch video of ABC News report,
"Why
are women earning less?"
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BEHIND THE PAY GAP
Pay gap exists as early as one year out of college,
says April 2007 AAUW research report.
>> Read
press release
>> Download
report (pdf)
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Congress holds hearings on two
bills aimed at curbing wage discrimination:
NCPE organizational members request
Congressional support of pay equity legislation.
>>
Letter to Members of Congress (pdf)
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While women's wages have gone up in all states since 1989,
at this rate the wage gap won't close until 2057.
See December 2006 report, The
Best and Worst State Economies for Women (pdf), issued
by the Institute
for Women's Policy Research.
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College and professional sports continue to provide unequal
funding for women, according to the Women's Sports Foundation.
See March 2007 report, Inequity
in Women's Collegiate and Professional Sports (pdf). |
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$ Read Washington Post
article, 8/13/06:
Women
in Top Ranks Pull Up the Pay of Others
Study Says Existing Salary Gap Fades When Female Managers
Are in Charge
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Read New York Times article, 12/24/06:
Gender Pay Gap, Once Narrowing,
Is Stuck in Place |
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The Maryland Department of Labor's Report
of the Equal Pay Commission (issued September 30,
2006) revealed "wage gaps based on both gender and
race in the State, particularly in the private sector."
The Commission was assisted by the Institute
for Women's Policy Research, which conducted a study
on wage disparities in Maryland. IWPR reported: "More
than one-fifth of the difference in women's and men's
earnings cannot be explained by differences in their education,
potential work experience, job characteristics, or other
measurable factors." |
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WAGE:
Women
Are Getting
Even
WAGE Clubs:
New nationwide grassroots
movement to close the wage gap
On Equal
Pay Day, April 25, 2006 NCPE -- in collaboration
with Business and Professional Women/USA (BPW/USA);
the WAGE Project, a new grassroots organization
dedicated to closing the wage gap, and other leading
national organizations -- announced at a press
conference at the National Press Club in Washington,
DC a new nationwide grassroots movement designed
to close the wage gap once and for all.
Through this movement, WAGE
Clubs are forming throughout the country to mobilize
groups of women to talk about the wage gap and
to obtain the tools, support and momentum they
need to get even at work.
The wage gap costs the average
American full-time woman worker between $700,000
and $2 million over the course of her lifetime,
according to economist Evelyn Murphy, president
of the WAGE Project.
Speakers at the press conference,
who discussed the current status of federal equal
pay legislation and the need for multiple approaches
to this long-standing problem, included members
of Congress: Senator Tom Harkin, Representative
Rosa DeLauro, and Representative Eleanor Holmes
Norton; Michele Leber, Chair, NCPE; Roslyn Ridgeway,
President, BPW/USA; Evelyn Murphy, and Annie Houle,
Founder, The Maine WAGE Project.
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| The
Department of Labor has abolished
its Equal Pay Matters Initiative, removed all information
about narrowing the wage gap from its Web site, refused
to use available tools to identify violations of equal
pay laws, and adopted regulations that deprive millions
of women of the right to overtime pay. The Department
seeks to abolish the Equal Opportunity Survey required
of federal contractors. |
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Important first steps to making
pay equity a reality include:
- Strengthening enforcement
of the Equal Pay Act by enacting the provisions of
the Paycheck Fairness Act, sponsored
by Sen. Hillary Clinton and Del. Rosa DeLauro.
The Paycheck Fairness Act would ensure effective remedies
for wage discrimination and make it easier to sue
on behalf of groups of women.
- Passing the Fair Pay Act, sponsored
by Sen. Tom Harkin and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton,
which would address the persistent problem of paying
lower wages in fields dominated by women and people
of color.
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NCPE's 23% OFF COUPON featured
in Jan-Feb 2005 Making
Bread Magazine (see the "Female Finance" column on
pages 20-23)! |
website: Swerdloff Digital Design |
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