Fifty years ago today President Kennedy signed The Equal Pay Act into law.Today, we are still experiencing pay inequality. One way employers get away with gender pay inequality is by enforcing the “company policy” that employees not discuss salaries. How convenient.
Feminist Charles Clymer wrote in his blog post: We’ve been stealing from women for 50 years.
“A study led by economists Paul Courant, Mary Corcoran, and Robert Wood matched up a sample group of men and women on every characteristic: age, education, experience, average hours worked, grades in college, childcare, etc. – and the team STILL found that women with the *same* characteristics are only paid 81.5% of their identical male peers.”
The website Catalyst.org posted Earnings and Income of U.S. Women and Men on March 21, 2013. The results were not surprising and illustrate that men earn more than women. A few examples of the findings include:
- In 2012, the median weekly earnings for full-time working women was $691, compared to $854 for men
- The median annual earnings for full-time, year-round women workers in 2010 was $36,931 compared to men’s $47,715
- In 2012, the median weekly earnings for women in full-time management, professional, and related occupations was $951, compared to $1,328 for men
We have a choice when it comes to pay inequality. The Paycheck Fairness Act, introduced in both the House (H.R. 377) and the Senate (S. 84) would update and strengthen the Equal Pay Act. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives on January 9, 2009. It was defeated in the Senate on a 58-41 procedural vote on November 17, 2010 and again on June 5, 2012 on another 52-47 procedural vote that was strictly along party lines. We can continue to allow Congress to vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act and watch the GOP block it every time. OR we can make fair pay for the sexes FEDERAL LAW. If it becomes federal law that men and women be paid equally, all these tedious battles will go away. No more headlines that the GOP is blocking the ability for women to get their FAIR SHARE.
How do we do this? We finally pass the Equal Rights Amendment into the Constitution. Right now, our senators and representatives are sponsoring SJRes15 and HJRes43. In simple terms, it is the removal of the congressionally imposed deadline to finally and fully ratify the ERA. Once this is done, we work on the final three states we need, and we’ll be in. No more paycheck fights. It will be unconstitutional to pay women less than men for the same job.
This protects all women. Not just liberals or Democrats, but all women.
Find out who your senators are, and also who the representative for your district is. Call them. Ask your senators to support SJRes15 and ask your representative to support HJRes43. Have the staffer read back your message to you. It’s very simple. Politicians RESPOND to public demand. They want to keep their cushy well-paying jobs. Be polite and clear. Remember that some staffers probably have NO idea what the Equal Rights Amendment is. Be patient. These links will show you who have signed on in support: Senators – HERE. Representatives – HERE. Click the link that says “show” co-sponsors.
Why do women have to ask for this? Unfortunately we do. But consider this: Would you rather make a few simple calls or wait for next year’s article about how it’s the 51st anniversary of a law that is being ignored? It may take longer than one year to get this done, but you get the point. Right?
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