For the 128th time in our nation's history, we celebrate Labor Day -- with last visits to the neighborhood pool, picnics, and barbecues that signal the end of summer. Yet for women and their families, recognition of the American worker rings rather hollow in the face of pay inequity.
That's because women across the country work just as hard their male counterparts do, yet they continue to receive less pay -- just 77 cents on the dollar, on average. A day off is not the only compensation American women require or deserve; without equal pay, our Labor Day celebrations don't ring true for many.
The 23-cent average difference between men's and women's pay isn't simply about fairness. This long-standing pay disparity hurts our nation, too. With women increasingly assuming the role of sole breadwinner, equal pay is not just a matter of equity but the key to a family's ability to make ends meet in a struggling economy and a critical factor in our nation's efforts to work its way out of this recession. This serious problem needs immediate Senate action.
That Senate action is passing the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 182), a bill that will provide a sorely needed update to the 1963 Equal Pay Act and help create a climate where pay discrimination isn't tolerated. This critical bill, which passed the House in January 2009, will close loopholes and strengthen incentives to prevent pay discrimination, as well as bring the Equal Pay Act's practices in line with other civil rights laws.
Fortunately, support for the Paycheck Fairness Act is growing. So are the number of co-sponsors of the bill. In a recent poll by the Paycheck Fairness Act Coalition, 84 percent of American voters expressed support for this new law to create more avenues for women to receive fair wages. President Barack Obama is also on board, having co-sponsored the bill as a senator. He has promised to sign the bill into law, calling the Paycheck Fairness Act a "common-sense bill." In fact, passage of the bill is one of the key recommendations of his administration's Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force, which he announced in his State of the Union address earlier this year.
We are closer than we have ever been to seeing this critical legislation enacted, which is why for the past three weeks AAUW members and coalition partners around the nation have been pushing hard to raise awareness about the pressing need for the Paycheck Fairness Act. We have hosted "Get It Done" (un)happy hours, sent letters to our senators, encouraged the men in our lives and families to speak up for fair pay (this is not a woman's issue--it's a family issue!), and used social media tools to get the message out.
Pay discrimination starts early -- "the minute college grads throw their caps in the air," as one economist observed. Research shows that over a 35-year career, the pay inequity shortfall in women's earnings is about $210,000. While September 2 headlines about young, educated, childless women making more than men show that we are making progress, such studies also underscore the ongoing reality of pay discrimination. While the average American woman still earns 23 percent less than her male counterpart does, the gap is biggest among older women and smallest among younger women. Further, much of the improvement in the gender pay gap has not been the result of women's pay increases but rather is due to men's decreasing or stagnating wages in traditional jobs that don't require a college degree, such as construction and manufacturing. That situation helps no one, least of all American families.
Earlier this year, AAUW and the National Partnership for Women and Families released some startling facts. In California, the nation's most populous state, we learned that without the pay gap, working women and their families in that state could afford
It's now up to the U.S. Senate to do the right thing for American families. It's time for swift action on the Paycheck Fairness Act. If a vote on this bill is delayed until next year with a new Congress, we're back to square one. The recovery of the American middle class begins and ends with well-paying jobs, but that can't happen if women continue to earn less than they deserve for equal work.
As we honor our nation's workers this Labor Day, what better way to laud them than to pay workers equally, regardless of gender? Help us convince the Senate to bring this bill up for a vote and pass the Paycheck Fairness Act this month.
American families have waited long enough.
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I am now in a management postiion as a chief pilot, and I have to say that given our kind of aircraft, a SA-227, I will not hire any women because most simply are not strong enough to handle that plane. At 6' 5" and 250#, even I have a hard time with it in rough air. If I find a bodybuilde
Yeah, in a perfect world, maybe. This world ain't by no means perfect sir.
The primary cause of the wage gap is time taken off work to deal with children. Currently in America only women's right to take time off to deal with children is protected. Ensure that men have the same right, and that they exercise it (by mandating equal splitting of parental leave), and just like Sweden the wage gap will disappear.
Otherwise you'll be left living in a fantasy world where employers are somehow choosing to pay women less -- which is the exact same thing as saying employers are choosing to pay men more. Think about that. These are employers, and they are being accused of deliberate
http://blo
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The most surprising finding was that unequal pay starts with first jobs. Carter says, "we started looking at salary differenti
And they're leaving those jobs averaging $4,600 lower pay. The next job they apply for, they'll be asked "How much did you make at your last job?" and the pay gap will widen.
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Its also a cross-indu
Notice that Carter did no surveys within companies, and could only given unsourced anecdotal evidence of internal (rather than industry wide) discrepanc
And how does not liking your boss retroactiv
In this down economy, more women are remaining employed than are men.
Employers are retaining women over men precisely because they get more for their bucks. Women are paid less, generally, so they end up working for less. Women who demand equal pay end up unemployed
But not to worry, menfolk. Soon as it picks up a bit, you'll all be back in the saddle, leaving us gals in the dust once again.
Seriously, people who think women are getting paid less in the same jobs AT THE SAME COMPANIES as men need to stop and recognize that what they are describing is ILLEGAL. Which means if they had any proof there would be grounds for lawsuits.
If he dies both the working and the never-work
The widows are patient enough to wait.
Do you honestly want to compare who collects more from SS, men or women? I promise men are not getting the better of the deal...
Then they will call it government overreach.
Then they will call it sexist, and reverse discrimina
Then they will call it socialism.
Then they will vote against it.
Then sfb conservati
If the goal is equity, how is women outearning men progress? Wouldn't real progress lie in both earning the same?
Those Sept 2 headlines aren't comparing apples to apples.
http://www
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The shift in earnings power started showing up in a few big cities a few years ago and has become widespread
Education is the key: "Young women are going to college in droves," Reach Advisors reports. "Nearly three-quar
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That 8% number comes from comparing the cream of the female crop ... the highest achievers ... with the entire male pool from burger slingers to brain surgeons.
It tiptoes gleefully around comparing them to male counterpar
Tall people are paid more. Men are generally taller, therefore paid more on the average.
http://www
When it comes to height, every inch counts--in fact, in the workplace, each inch above average may be worth $789 more per year, according to a study in the Journal of Applied Psychology (Vol. 89, No. 3).
The findings suggest that someone who is 6 feet tall earns, on average, nearly $166,000 more during a 30-year career than someone who is 5 feet 5 inches
Women marry later and then take time off in the 'make or break years' (30's) to have kids which is the prime (age) time for moving up the ladder and becoming partner in law firm, senior management etc. If you are not there and don't put in the time and effort and get the 'super' results, then you don't meet the requiremen
Men are still more likely to major in engineerin
Men take on physically strenuous, dangerous jobs etc. - they pay higher based on supply and demand for those positions, that most women simply cannot do.
Women are just entering into the big time paycheck jobs, e.g, '...today there are 39 occupation
This is a non issue which will cease to exist over time as women enter into jobs that were formerly 'done' by men.
The wage gap referred to in the article is when comparing men and women in the SAME job, negating your whole argument.
No, it doesn't. Try actually reading the report. It clearly states that the 77:100 ratio is caused primarily by the prevalence of women in low-paying jobs like child csare, cosmetolog
Hopefully the compensati
Which, btw, won't just help women. Protection