Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Equal Pay Day

It's 2011, and yes, we're still fighting.

It's not asking much, really. Equal pay for equal work. How hard is that to understand? Any argument against equal pay boils down to sputtering nonsense, often coupled with unrealistic assumptions and outdated defenses. (Like? "Men are the breadwinners!" or "If women want more money, they can just marry up!")


So, what can we do?

Support the Paycheck Fairness Act. As National Women’s Law Center Co-President Marcia D. Greenberger states:

"It's shameful that nearly 50 years after President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law, women still earn, on average, only 77 cents for every dollar paid to men—a pay gap that translates to more than $10,000 in lost wages per year for the average woman worker. The Paycheck Fairness Act will strengthen and update the Equal Pay Act in critical ways. It will bar retaliation against workers for discussing salary information and facilitate class action equal pay act claims—essential steps in closing the wage gap.
At a time when the economic recovery remains fragile and nearly 40 percent of mothers are primary breadwinners, no woman and no family can afford to have employers discounting their salaries. It's long past time to eliminate the pay discrimination that has been a fact of life for far too many women in this country for far too many years. Congress should act quickly to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act."
 

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