FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 12, 2016
CONTACT
Yasmine Evans (Edwards)--202-225-8699
Edwards Statement on Equal Pay Day
Washington, D.C.– Congresswoman Donna F. Edwards (MD-4) released the following statement in recognition of Equal Pay Day. The date of this year’s Equal Pay Day – April 12th – occurs 103 days into the new year as a symbol of the amount of extra days a woman must work in order to make the same amount of money her male counterpart did the previous year.
“Today is a reminder of just how undeniable the issue of income inequality is in the United States. It is inexcusable that for every dollar a white man makes, a woman earns only 79 cents. This disparity continues to increase when you look at the earnings of minority women such as African-American women earning 60 cents and Latinas earning 55 cents to the dollar.”
“The message that this sends to the working-women of this country and to young women looking to join our workforce is that their skills, talents and abilities are simply not worth the same as a man’s – and that is absolutely incorrect. By guaranteeing equal pay for equal work, we are showing women that their contributions in the workplace are not only valuable, but necessary.”
“As a woman who has spent much of her professional career working in male-dominated fields, I know first-hand that women are deserving of equal pay for equal work and I will continue to advocate for such parity.”
Congresswoman Edwards is an original co-sponsor of H.R. 1619, the Paycheck Fairness Act, introduced by Senators Mikulski (D-MD) and Representative DeLauro (CT- 3), which is a measure that at its core would put an end to future instances of wage-discrimination on the basis of sex. It does so by strengthening and closing loopholes in the 1963 Equal Pay Act, including providing effective remedies to women who are not being paid equal pay for equal work.
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