WASHINGTON, DC—Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) released the following statements today marking Equal Pay Day, the day that women finally make the same amount that their male counterparts made the previous year.
“Equal Pay Day provides a reminder of the persistent inequities that women face in the workforce,” DeLauro said. “The fact women make an average of only 77 cents for every dollar earned by their male colleagues threatens women and families’ financial stability. With women bringing home an increasingly bigger share of family income, smaller paychecks hurt their spouses and children, as well as the entire economy. When Congress passed the Affordable Care Act we said to insurance companies: you cannot charge women more than men. Now we need to build on that new reality in health care and make it true in every workplace. That is why Congress needs to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. Equal pay for equal work should not be a partisan issue; it is time for this bill to become law.”
Teresa Younger, Executive Director of the Connecticut Permanent Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW), said: “Gender-based wage discrimination has been illegal in this country for decades, yet it systematically continues. In a society that claims to value the family, we need to be constantly vigilant in pointing out this pervasive form of gender discrimination. And we need to keep the focus on this issue until both houses of Congress pass the Paycheck Fairness Act and implement provisions of the Women’s Economic Agenda. Here in Connecticut, our General Assembly has enacted legislation that will help ameliorate some of the effects of wage disparity, including paid sick leave, a higher minimum wage, and the creation of a task force to study earned paid family leave. And we’re proud of our partnership with Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, who is the leading voice pushing for progressive legislation in Washington.”
The Paycheck Fairness Act is a key part of “When Women Succeed, America Succeeds: An Economic Agenda for Women and Families.” DeLauro was present at the White House today for President Obama’s announcement he will prohibit federal contractors from retaliating against employees who choose to discuss their compensation and begin collecting information from federal contractors on pay broken down by sex and race.
“A key part of ending what President Kennedy called the ‘serious and endemic’ problem of unequal wages is having the knowledge that you are being paid less in the first place. Just ask Lilly Ledbetter, who only found out she was being paid less because of an anonymous note. In order to detect and combat pay discrimination, employees must be able to share salary information with their coworkers without fear of punishment. I constantly hear from women across the country that unequal pay continues to happen and is hard to uncover. And collecting data is a necessary step if we are to identify and end patterns of pay disparity. I am pleased the Administration is taking steps to deal with this scourge head-on.”
