In 2007, Lilly Ledbetter gained national attention when the Supreme Court denied her back pay for unequal wages and sex-based discrimination in her work at the Goodyear Tire Company in Alabama. The court decision deprived her of the quarter-million dollars she would have earned over her career had she been a man in the same job. This pervasive form of discrimination—termed the "career wage gap" by the Center for American Progress—affects women all over the country.
More than 45 years after the passage of the Equal Pay Act, women in the United States still earn only 78 cents on the dollar compared to men. Current labor laws favor employers—often over the rights of minority and women employees.
The U.S. House of Representatives last week passed two bills—the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Fair Paycheck Act—that can advance the rights of workers throughout the nation. This week it’s the Senate’s turn. In our current economic state, it is more important than ever to guarantee that women receive an equal wage for a day of work and can provide for their families.
A 2000 report from the Institute For Women’s Policy Research found the following:
If women were paid fairly, single women’s income would rise by 13.4 percent, single mothers would earn 17 percent more, and married women’s income would increase by 6 percent. These wage increases would reduce levels of poverty for single mothers by over 50 percent.
This would greatly increase the ability of women from all economic backgrounds to provide basic support to their families, including food, education, and childcare.
Benefits pegged to salary are also significantly lower for women. Women earn less when it comes to social security, pensions, and employer-provided health care. According to a report by Jessica Arons at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, there is an $8,000 gap between the average retirement income that men and women receive annually.
As men are affected by the current economic downturn, families are becoming increasingly dependent on women’s salaries. A CAP report on last year’s employment numbers showed just how bleak the jobs picture is:
Because job losses have been concentrated in manufacturing, construction, and temporary help, unemployment has risen faster among men than women. Even within industries with high female employment, men have tended to be hard hit. Case in point: the retail industry lost 67,000 jobs last month, but about a third of those jobs were lost by car dealerships, a predominantly male occupation. Overall among adult men over the past year, the unemployment rate rose by 2.8 percentage points, up to 7.2 percent, and the employment rate fell by 2.8 percentage points, down to 69.7 percent—its all-time low. Among adult women, however, the overall unemployment rate has risen by only 1.6 percentage points, to 5.9 percent, and the employment rate has only fallen by 0.6 percentage points, to 57.5 percent.
As the economy takes its toll on a disproportionate number of men, now is the time to guarantee that women have the ability to support their families with fair and equal wages.
State and federal social programs funded by income and wage taxes are dramatically affected by the wage gap. Because women make less money, these taxes—many of which fund vital community services—are lower than they should be.
In addition to the provisions set forth in the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act guaranteeing an equal wage for women, the Fair Paycheck Act ensures that workers who attempt to find out others’ wages cannot be persecuted. Open wage records are the first step to ensuring that workers receive fair and equal pay for the same job.
More on equal pay:
http://www.americanprogress.org/...