It seems like a long time since this winter's frigid temperatures, record-breaking snowstorms and impassable streets. We're so far into spring that Washington's cherry blossoms have come and gone. It's even time for Equal Pay Day! That's the day when the average woman, working all of 2009 and almost four months into 2010, earns what a man earns in 2009 alone.
It takes a woman, on average, almost 16 months just to make what her male counterpart earns in twelve, and she's finally gotten there on April 20 this year. A woman on average has to work almost all of these four months to earn the additional $10,622 that her male counterpart earned by New Year's day. That's a lot of money to be shortchanged, and a lot of needless time and sacrifice for women and their families.
Frankly, it makes me angry to think about how much women needed that $10,622 for their hard work last year, and every year. But getting angry isn't nearly as good as getting the Paycheck Fairness Act passed. The Act would take this country's legal protections against pay discrimination, first passed 47 years ago, and bring them into the 21st century.
The Paycheck Fairness Act passed the House of Representatives in January, and now women of this country are looking to the Senate to step up and do the right thing and finally pass the law. Now is the time. No more seasons coming and going, without women having the law on their side, and the paychecks they deserve.