Equal Pay for Equal Work

Census data shows American women now earn 76.3 cents for every $1 earned by men . . . up from only 73.7 cents in 2000. The pay picture is even bleaker for minority women, who still make 66 cents or less for every dollar earned by men as a group. Added up over a lifetime, unequal pay translates to a quarter million dollar chasm separating women from men. 

A recent GAO report on women’s earnings confirms these figures. “The report substantiates previous research finding that a substantial part of women’s earnings disadvantage is not related to how many hours they work, whether they are married or have children, or how many years they’ve been in the labor market,” noted Dr. Heidi Hartmann, President of the  Institute for Women’s Policy Research. “Discrimination is the most likely explanation for this remaining difference.”

For more details, see IWPR's fact sheet: "The Gender Wage Gap: Progress of the 1980s Fails to Carry Through".  You can also see their press release: "New GAO Report Finds Continued, Unexplained Gender Wage Gap; Women's Progress of 1980s Unmatched in Subsequent Years".

As background, a federal law, the Equal Pay Act (29 U.S.C. §206), requires employers to pay all employees equally for equal work, regardless of their gender. It was passed in 1963 as an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The wage gap has narrowed slowly since 1980, when women's earnings were only 60% of men's; the 2000 figure has women earning about 75% as much as working men.  But the federal Equal Pay Act likely has little to do with it. The law's biggest weakness is that it applies only when men and women are doing the same work. Since women have historically been banned from many types of work and had only limited entree to managerial positions, the Equal Pay Act in reality affects very few women.

With the help of groups like the  Institute for Women’s Policy Research, CPA,  9 to 5 and  Business and Professional Women, it's time for an Equal Pay Act for the states.

Start the Journey.  There is a choice.

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