Background | Legislation | Updates | Talking Points | Resources | Action
Background
Forty-six years after President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act ensuring “equal pay for equal work,” the Census Bureau reports that, on average, full-time working women earned 78 cents to every dollar earned by men. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, signed into law on January 23, 2009, ensures that victims of discrimination have fair access to the courts, but additional legislation is needed to close the persistent gap between men’s and women’s wages.
Legislation
- The Paycheck Fairness Act (HR 12/S 182) will strengthen the Equal Pay Act in ways necessary to guarantee that women workers are not shortchanged solely because of their gender.
Updates
White House Strongly Calls for Action on Equal Pay
July 20, 2010
“Be on the right side of history,” urged Vice President Joe Biden as he called on the Senate to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act at the White House Middle Class Task Force event on Tuesday, July 20th. BPW Foundation was honored to be in the packed room of activists to hear administration official after administration official stress the importance of equal pay enforcement and strong work-family policies.
The rousing call to action on one of BPW Foundation’s top legislative priorities was very encouraging. BPW Foundation has been advocating for the Paycheck Fairness Act for over a decade. In fact we testified in support of this bill back in March. The bill will update and strengthen the 46-year-old Equal Pay Act, closing loop holes and improving the law's effectiveness. Calling for Senate passage of the legislation, Vice President Biden said bluntly: “I say to all those, those few Democrats and all those Republicans who at least thus far have said no, or said nothing: This is your chance, and I mean this sincerely, to get on the right side of history…Step up, man. Step up and change the law.”
Duing the event, the Administration announced recommendations from the Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force which President Obama pledged to create in his State of the Union address. Although a number of laws exist to address equal pay enforcement, the Task Force has identified five persistent challenges and made recommendations to address each challenge along with an action plan to implement those recommendations. The 5th recommendation is passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act.
Vice President Biden framed pay equity in economic terms. “Closing the gender pay gap, helping parents keep their jobs while balancing family responsibilities, and increasing workplace flexibility – these are not only women’s issues, they are issues of middle class economic security.” Read More>>>
Anniversary of the Equal Pay Act
June 10, 2010
June 10 is the 47th Anniversary of the Equal Pay Act! What better way to celebrate the anniversary than by asking the Senate to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. In a nationwide poll of registered voters commissioned by the Paycheck Fairness Act Coalition, of which BPW Foundation is a key leader, 84% said they supported “a new law that would provide women more tools to get fair pay in the workplace,” - precisely what the Paycheck Fairness Act would do.Click here to contact your Senators and ask them to do what a majority of Americans want -- pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.
Women: Like Men, Only Cheaper
May 20, 2010
Once again, the BPW family used Equal Pay Day to garner lots of media coverage of the continuing gap between men’s and women’s wages. BPW Foundation hosted an UnHappy Hour and a National Conference Call with Rep. DeLauro and AAUW for over 100 activists. As a result of all of your hard work, two more Senators signed on as co-sponsors of the Paycheck Fairness Act. There are now 40 co-sponsors! Go to the BPW Foundation Advocacy Center to send a letter encouraging the Senate to take action on PFA now.
Awesome Interactive Wage Gap Maps: Annual Wage Gap By State (AAUW) | Career Wage Gap By State (Center for American Progress) | What the wage gaps means for families (National Partnership for Women and Families) | What the wage gap means for low wage women (National Women's Law Center)
You're Invited: UnHappy Hour
April 20, 2010
Did you know that in 2010 workingwomen achieved an employment milestone? As of this year, women officially make up half of the paid labor force. Sadly, however, equity in numbers still does not mean equity in pay. Read More>>>
On average, working women earn approximately 23% less than their male counterparts, which translates to women earning 77 cents for every dollar amassed by a man, no matter how hard she works.
In support of Equal Pay Day, Business and Professional Women’s Foundation (BPW) is sponsoring and “UnHappy Hour” to commemorate the day in which women “catch up,” which is to say, when we earn the same amount that it took a man to earn in a year.
That’s right. It takes women 16 months — FOUR EXTRA MONTHS — to earn what men do in 12 months.
Because women receive an average of 77 cents of every dollar made by a man, we are asking attendees to donate to the initiative, preferably in increments of “23,” to serve as a reminder of the inequality women currently face in the workplace.
What: Equal Pay Day “Unhappy Hour”
Who: You and your friends, family, coworkers…anyone who supports the idea that women should be paid as much as their male counterparts.
When: Tuesday, April 20th, 5pm-8pm
Where: Kellari?, 1700 K Street NW, Washington DC, 202-535-5274
Why: To help support BPW in our fight to ensure that everyone receives equal pay for equal work, no matter what your gender!
We look forward to seeing you on April 20th, and we thank you for your support of Business and Professional Women’s Foundation!
Let us know if you can attend in the comments, @WomenMisbehavin, or info@youngwomenmisbehavin.com.
Ready to donate your $23 now?
How Does the Pay Gap Impact You?
April 15, 2010
Equal Pay Day is held annually in April to designate the point into a year that a woman must work to earn what a man made the previous year. This year, Equal Pay Day 20 falls on April 20. In 2008, women working full-time, year-round earned, on average, 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. Even though gender wage discrimination has been illegal since President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act in 1963, the wage gap persists. Women earned 59 cents to every dollar earned by men in 1963, but progress has slowed and the gender wage gap widened slightly from 77.8 to 77.1 percent between 2007 and 2008.
What this means if you are:
- An African American woman: You earn on average 61 cents for every dollar earned by a white man.
- A Latina woman: You earn on average 52 cents for every dollar earned by a white man.
- A newly minted MBA graduate: Women MBAs on average are paid $4,600 less on their first job than men.
- An Education major one-year out of undergrad: Women in this female dominated profession earn 95 percent as much as a male Education major one-year out of college.
- A recent Biology major graduate: Women earn only 75 percent as much as men earn, just one year after graduation. In general, one year after college graduation, women earn only 80 percent of what their male counterparts earn. Ten years after graduation, women fall further behind, earning only 69 percent of what men earn.
- A woman with children: Women with children earn about 2.5 percent less than women without children, while men with children enjoy an earnings boost of 2.1 percent, compared with men without children.
- A woman retiree: The gap between the average retirement income that men and women receive annually is $8,000. Two-thirds of this disparity can be attributed to the pay gap and occupational segregation.
- A woman in the Life Sciences: Women earned from $6,000 to $15,000 less per year than men of similar levels of accomplishment in academic medicine. Over a 30-year career, an average female faculty member with a PhD would earn almost $215,000 less that a comparable male.
- A woman in Wyoming, Louisiana or West Virginia: You live in states with some of the worst wage gaps and earn on average 37%, 35% and 33% less than your male counterparts. In California and DC you would be earning only 16% and 9% less. Read More>>>
BPW Foundation Testifies Before Senate Committee on Equal Pay
March 11, 2010
Business and Professional Women’s Foundation CEO Deborah L. Frett testified in support of the Paycheck Fairness Act (S182) before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) on Thursday, March 11, 2010.
Ms. Frett said, “Investing in policies that attract women is simply good for business. Companies that hire and retain more women gain a competitive edge, show stronger financial performance and are able to access a larger pool of talent. Simply put, equitable pay practices improve the bottom line and result in improved employee retention, positive human capital outcomes and a more productive workforce.
Women business owners know that hiring women and paying them equally is good for business. A quest for fair pay is often the reason women leave an employer to start their own company. Business owners like Debra Ruh support the Paycheck Fairness Act. Ms. Ruh owns TecAccess in Rockville, Virginia. She told BPW Foundation it would never occur to her to pay a woman less than a man; it would be short-sighted and bad for business because she would lose out on a creative, innovative and loyal workforce. It is supremely unfair to business owners like Debra Ruh who are doing right by their employees to have to compete on an unfair playing field against companies that discriminate and pay their women workers less.
As long as employers are paying equal pay for equal work, they have nothing to fear. Businesses with written policies and a transparent evaluation process will find compliance easy and litigation less.
Pay equity is important to Business and Professional Women’s Foundation because it is important to the well-being of working women, their families and workplaces. The Paycheck Fairness Act will help to rebuild the workforce and transform workplaces into those that ‘work’ for women, their families and employers.”
The Paycheck Fairness Act has already passed the House and we hope that this hearing signals that the Senate will soon follow suit. You can help by urging your Senator to support this important piece of legislation that will support working women and their families and ensure more successful workplaces. Contact your Senator through the BPW Foundation Advocacy Center today.
Watch the Video | Read the Testimony
Another Year, Another Chance to Do Right by Women
January 26, 2010
Friday, January 29th is the one-year anniversary of the signing of the historic Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Enactment of this legislation was one of BPW Foundation’s top legislative priorities. In 2009, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed the House with the Paycheck Fairness Act and together these bills are a one-two punch in the fight for equal pay. But a year later, the Paycheck Fairness Act remains stalled in the Senate. There is some good news. The Senate leadership has promised that there will be a Senate committee hearing on the Paycheck Fairness Act in the next few months! A hearing gets us one step closer to a vote. Urge your Senators to cosponsor and move to quickly pass the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 182). It is time for Congress to lead the way in creating successful workplaces!
Women Are Dominant Income-Provider in One of Five Marriages
January 19, 2010
According to a new Pew Research Center study, the institution of marriage has undergone significant changes in recent decades as women have outpaced men in education and earnings growth. A larger share of men in 2007, compared with their 1970 counterparts, are married to women with more education and income than their own. In the past, when relatively few wives worked, marriage enhanced the economic status of women more than that of men. In recent decades, however, the economic gains associated with marriage have been greater for men than for women.
New Unemployment Rules Benefit Women
December 6, 2009
Women currently collect far less unemployment insurance than men, because the reasons they leave a job are considered “voluntary.” Seven out of 10 women leave jobs because of a loss of child care, relocation of a spouse or other work-family conflicts. In the majority of states, such workers are ineligible for unemployment insurance benefits because they are considered to have "voluntarily left the labor force." The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which President Barack Obama signed in February, provides $7 billion to help states extend jobless benefits to low-income workers, part-time workers and those with work-family conflicts.
BPW Foundation Discuss Women’s Economic Security with White House
November 24, 2009
BPW Foundation was honored to participate in a White House Council on Women and Girls meeting on “Improving Financial Literacy and Economic Security among Women and Girls."
Begich Makes 35
November 13, 2009
Work continues on the Paycheck Fairness Act – Sen. Begich (AK) became the latest Senator to sign-on to the bill. Find out if your Senator has signed onto the Paycheck Fairness Act – the next step in pay equity for women.
Bennet Makes 34
September 11, 2009
Work continues on the Paycheck Fairness Act. This month Sen. Bennet (CO) became the latest Senator to sign-on to the bill.
Ledbetter Act Helps Woman in Pennsylvania
September 10, 2009
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Mary Lou Mikula, holding that her Title VII pay discrimination claim had been wrongly dismissed. Originally, the Third Circuit held that her claim was not filed in a timely manner citing the Ledbetter v. Goodyear Supreme Court decision. After the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act the National Women’s Law Center filed a petition for rehearing and the court agreed making it clear that each discriminatory paycheck renews the time period for filing a Title VII claim.
Paycheck Fairness Act has 33 Co-Sponsors
August 6, 2009
Although the House voted on the Paycheck Fairness Act (PFA) way back in January, the Senate has yet to take it up. The PFA coalition has been keeping the pressure on with a Letter-A-Day campaign that is in its third straight week. BPW sent letters on July 27 – one to thank the co-sponsors and one to encourage the stragglers to sign-on. And it is working! Sens. Shaheen (NH) and Franken (MN) became the latest two Senators to sign-on to the bill.
The 46th Anniversary of the Equal Pay Act
June 10, 2009
Wednesday, June 10th is the 46th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act ensuring "equal pay for equal work." In honor of the anniversary, ask your Senators to co-sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act (S 182). The Paycheck Fairness Act will update and strengthen the Equal Pay Act, closing loop holes and improving the law's effectiveness. You can easily write your Senator using the BPW Foundation Advocacy Center. Just enter you zip code and click on "Write Your Legislators".
Would a Female Supreme Court Justice Make a Difference?
May 3, 2009
Supreme Court Justice David Souter announced his retirement and without taking a breath speculation about his potential replacement began. BPW asks what does the make-up of the Supreme Court mean for sex discrimination? A great deal it turns out. Researchers have studied the votes of federal court of appeals judges in many areas of the law. For the most part, they found no difference in the voting patterns of male and female judges, except when it comes to sex discrimination cases. There, they found that female judges are approximately 10 percent more likely to rule in favor of the party bringing the discrimination claim. They also found that the presence of a female judge causes male judges to vote differently. When male and female judges serve together to decide a sex discrimination case, the male judges are nearly 15 percent more likely to rule in favor of the party alleging discrimination than when they sit with male judges only. Read more
Flurry of Equal Pay Day Activities
May, 1st 2009
This year Equal Pay Day was April 28th but the celebration lasted all week. On Thursday, April 30th BPW co-sponsored a Congressional Briefing on the Paycheck Fairness Act. BPW Director of Public Policy Rachel Lyons was one of 4 panelists that spoke to a full room of coalition partners and Congressional staff. Rachel read testimonials from BPW members and business owners who support PFA. Rep. Rosa Delauro was presented with the Winn Newman award for her unflagging support for fair pay. The briefing was a great success and we have added two more PFA co-sponsors for a total of 31!! Thank you to everyone for your amazing efforts
Check out what else was said and done during Equal Pay Week:
Support the Paycheck Fairness Act on Equal Pay Day
April 24, 2009
Tell your Senators to celebrate Equal Pay Day by co-sponsoring the Paycheck Fairness Act (S 182). The Paycheck Fairness Act will update and strengthen the Equal Pay Act, closing loop holes and improving the law's effectiveness. You can easily write your Senator using the BPW Foundation Advocacy Center.
Equal Pay Day is an excellent opportunity to organize activities and events to bring attention to the wage gap. Equal Pay Day is held annually in April to signify the point during the year that a woman must work to earn what a man made the previous year. Check out the BPW website for helpful tools to assist you in planning your Equal Pay Day events and activities. Don’t confine yourself to a day, make it an Equal Pay Week! This year BPW is celebrating Equal Pay Day by co-sponsoring a Congressional Briefing on the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 182) on Thursday, April 30th.
Tell Us Your Story - BPW is looking for testimonials from women business owners who support the Paycheck Fairness Act. Do you own a business with gross receipts greater than $500,000? Do you support the Paycheck Fairness Act - the next step in the fight to close the persistent wage gap between men and women? Then tell us your story! Include your name, the name of your business, a little bit about what your business does, where you are located, contact information and a couple sentences about why you support the Paycheck Fairness Act. For more information contact Rachel Lyons at policy@bpwfoundation.org.
State Based Wage and Economic Data
April 24, 2009
Two of our coalition partners have released state specific fact sheets with data that will be helpful in your fair pay advocacy. AAUW has released a new state-by-state earnings comparison by gender that shows that the wage gap is stubbornly in place despite the overall positive effect a college degree has on women workers. For the entire full-time workforce, the narrowest wage gaps exist in the District of Columbia, Vermont, and California — where female, full-time workers make 85 percent as much as their male counterparts. At the other end of the rankings are Wyoming, West Virginia, and North Dakota, where women earn 62 percent, 65 percent, and 66 percent, respectively, of what men make. The National Women’s Law Center has also developed state based fact sheets.
Urge Your Senators to Co-sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act
March 6, 2009
The Paycheck Fairness Act (S 182) is moving rapidly through the Senate and it needs your help! The Paycheck Fairness Act will update and strengthen the Equal Pay Act, closing loop holes and improving the law's effectiveness. BPW members have been championing this legislation since it was first introduced in 1997. We are so grateful to Congress and President Obama for quickly passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in January, but the work to eliminate the wage gap is not done. Ledbetter gets us back to the starting line, now we need to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act to move us forward in the battle to close the persistent gap between men’s and women’s wages. Please take a moment to write your Senators and ask them to support the Paycheck Fairness Act.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act are a one-two punch in the fight for pay equity. This week BPW Director of Public Policy Rachel Lyons joined with other pay equity advocates at meetings with key Senate offices urging them to co-sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act. There are currently 27 co-sponsors, click here to find out if your Senator is one of them. You can easily write your Senator using the BPW Foundation Advocacy Center. Just enter you zip code and then click on "Write Your Legislators" under the Paycheck Fairness Act.
Sign-on Letter in Support of Paycheck Fairness Act
February 27, 2009
A broad coalition of women, civil rights and community organizations are working together to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act (S 182) this year. The Act would close loopholes in the Equal Pay Act, improve federal tools to combat pay discrimination, and provide enhanced incentives for employers to comply with the law. The House passed the Act in January, and it is now moving forward in the Senate. A sign-on letter for national and state organizations in support of the bill is circulating and the deadline for signatures is on-going. To add your state BPW organization (no locals please) send an email to policy@bpwfoundation.org with the full name of your state organization as you wanted it listed on the letter. Click here to view the letter.
BPW/USA Attends Historic Signing of Ledbetter Act
January 29, 2009
BPW/USA CEO Deborah L. Frett joined leaders of women’s, civil rights and human rights organizations at the White House to witness the historic signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. “It is significant that the first piece of legislation to be signed by President Obama is one we have fought so hard for - the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.” said Frett.
“Equal pay for women has long been one of BPW/USA’s top legislative priorities and it is fitting that in our 90th year we can celebrate the signing of the first major equal pay bill since the 1963 Equal Pay Act,” says BPW/USA president The Honorable Diane Polangin. BPW/USA was present at that historic 1963 White House signing as well. More information about the Ledbetter bill and the signing can be found in the press release and you can view the signing ceremony on YouTube.
BPW/USA urges Congress to continue the effort to ensure equal pay for equal work and quickly take up the Paycheck Fairness Act, which gives teeth to the Equal Pay Act and is the next step in closing the wage gap between men and women. Use the BPW/USA Advocacy Center to send a letter to your Senators urging them to vote for the Paycheck Fairness Act.
Senate Passes Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act!
January 23, 2009
The US Senate approved by a vote of 61-36 the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (S 181)! “The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act will ensure that women subject to wage discrimination will get their day in court and is an important step towards closing the persistent and sizable wage gap that remains between men and women,” said BPW/USA CEO Deborah L. Frett. “Enactment of this legislation was one of BPW/USA’s top legislative priorities.” Click here to read the press release.
Congress has shown its strong support for working women by passing pay equity legislation in first days of the 111th Congress. Thank you to Senators Kennedy (D-MA) and Mikulski (D-MD) for their unflagging leadership in support of this legislation. During the several hours of debate seven amendments were proposed to weaken the legislation and all were soundly defeated. The final bill passed with the support of five Republicans and all sixteen women Senators. The bill now goes back to the House to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate passed versions and then to President Obama who has said he will sign the legislation. Click here to find out how your Senators voted on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (S181).
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act would overturn the damaging Ledbetter v. Goodyear Supreme Court decision and ensure that victims of pay discrimination have a real chance to pursue their claims. Lilly Ledbetter, one of the few female supervisors at the Goodyear plant in Gadsden, Alabama, was earning 20 percent less than the lowest paid man in the same position when she filed a complaint with EEOC. Lower court rulings supported her claim and awarded her damages, but the Supreme Court held that her claim was not filed within 180 days of Goodyear’s initial discriminatory pay decision and therefore was not valid. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act reverses the effect of the Supreme Court decision and reinstates the previous standard that each discriminatory paycheck is a violation of law. In 2008, the House passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, but the bill failed in the Senate by a narrow margin. This year the bill passed both chambers with record levels of support.
Senate Votes to Support Equal Pay
January 16, 2009
Congress moved one step closer to passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act! The Senate voted to advance the bill by a vote of 72-23 with 18 Republicans voting yes. The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act would overturn the damaging Ledbetter v. Goodyear Supreme Court decision and ensure that victims of pay discrimination have a real chance to pursue their claims. Like the House, the Senate has shown its support for working women by voting on this bill as one if its first legislative actions of 2009. Click here to find out how your Senators voted.
Action on this bill in the first days of the 111th Congress is clear recognition that wage discrimination is still a very real problem in the United States. Thank you to all the BPW/USA members who wrote letters and made calls in support of this bill and the Paycheck Fairness Act.
The fight is not over yet! Cloture is the first step in the process, amendments and the final vote will happen NEXT WEEK. Last year, the cloture vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act failed by a vote of 56-42, just four votes shy of the 60 needed to invoke cloture. Sen. Kennedy (D-MA), sponsor of the bill, vowed to fight on and Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) agreed to bring the bill to a vote again. Thank you to Sens. Kennedy (D-MA), Mikulski (D-MD) and Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) for their leadership in support of working women.
In her floor statement, Sen. Hutchison (R-TX) said she was voting for cloture so that she could introduce her alternative bill as an amendment. The Hutchinson bill, misleadingly named the Title VII Fairness Act (S. 166), would require employees to file their claims within six months of the date when they discover— or should have discovered — that they were receiving discriminatory pay. The Hutchison bill does not correct the basic injustice created by the Ledbetter case and would not have helped Lilly Ledbetter.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act restores the commonly used “paycheck accrual rule” which made clear that each paycheck triggers the 180-day charge filing clock. Substituting a “discovery” rule that bases the timing for filing a claim on when an individual discovers or should have discovered discrimination would add new complications to pay discrimination cases and would likely add to the expense and length of litigation. Some feel that a “discovery rule” would protect employers but the existing 2-year limit on back pay that workers may receive if they successfully prove their pay discrimination case already ensures that employers do not have unlimited liability. The Hutchinson bill has attracted 6 co-sponsors, while the Ledbetter bill has 53 co-sponsors.
Ledbetter to Ride on Obama's Train
January 16, 2009
Lilly Ledbetter will be a passenger on President-elect Barack Obama’s pre-inaugural train tour. She will be among about 40 guests invited on Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden’s whistlestop tour along the East Coast before arriving in Washington for the January 20 inauguration. Legislation bearing her name will be considered the week after the inauguration and President-elect Obama has committed to signing that legislation.
House Passes Two Pay Equity Bills, Ask the Senate to Follow!
January 9, 2009
As its first major legislative action of 2009 and in a huge show of support for working women, the U.S. House of Representatives passed both the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (HR 11) and the Paycheck Fairness Act (HR 12) today. “These two pieces of legislation provide a crucial one-two punch in the fight for equal pay for women and their passage today is an important step towards closing the persistent and sizable wage gap that remains between men and women,” said BPW/USA CEO Deborah L. Frett. Click here to view the press release. HR 11 passed by a margin of 247-171 and HR 12 passed by a margin of 256-163. Click the links to find out how your Representative voted on the HR 11 and HR 12.
Passage of these bills in the first days of the 111th Congress is clear recognition that wage discrimination is still a very real problem in the United States. BPW/USA has supported the Paycheck Fairness Act since it was first introduce in 1997 and BPW/USA members have worked tirelessly for passage of both pieces of legislation. Twenty-six BPW state federations signed onto a coalition letter in support of the bills. BPW/USA sends a special thanks to Rep. George Miller (D-CA), Rep. DeLauro (D-CT) and Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) for their unflagging leadership in support of working women.
Now it is time for the U.S Senate to follow the House’s lead and quickly pass these crucial bills. Thank you to BPW/USA members who sent letters through the BPW/USA Advocacy Center this week.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act
January 6, 2009
Congress is starting the new year off right! One of the very first actions that will be taken by the 111th Congress is a vote on pay equity. As early as Wednesday, January 7th, the House of Representatives will consider two equal pay bills – the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act. Together these bills will restore and strengthen the laws that support equal pay for women.
Women deserve equal pay for equal work and a fair shot at challenging pay discrimination. Pay discrimination costs women hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost wages over a lifetime; they retire with less money and experience increased economic insecurity throughout their lives. NOW is the perfect time to let your Representative know that, especially during an economic crisis, fair pay is critical to women's economic security. The House passed both of these bills last year with bipartisan support. Let’s make sure they do it again!
