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© National Committee
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Next Equal Pay Day - April 17, 2012

  About Equal Pay Day
 
 

Wage Gap Statistically Unchanged

The wage gap remained statistically unchanged in the last year. Women's earnings were 77.4 percent of men's in 2010, compared to 77.0 percent in 2009, according to Census statistics released September 13, 2011 based on the median earnings of all full-time, year-round workers. Both men's and women's earnings showed slight increases from 2009 to 2010 with men's at $47,715 and women's at $36,931, a difference of $10,784. Fifty years ago women earned 61 percent of what men earned, a Census official noted in releasing the data. 

In 2010, the earnings of African American women were $32,290, 67.7 percent of all men's earnings (from 67.5 percent in 2009), and Latinas' earnings were $27,992, 58.7 percent of all men's earnings (up from 57.7 percent in 2009). Asian American women's earnings at $41,309 dropped from 90 percent of all men's earnings in 2009 to 86.6 percent in 2010. The National Committee on Pay Equity's The Wage Gap Over Time shows how little the wage gap has changed in this century. (See also the fact sheet from the Institute for Women's Policy Research: The Gender Wage Gap: 2010.)

Additional state Census data: Men’s and Women’s Earnings for States and Metropolitan Statistical Areas shows that women working full-time, year-round continued to earn less than men working full-time, year-round in every single state, although the wage gap among them varies. The District of Columbia continues to have the smallest wage gap, with women earning 91.4 cents for every dollar men earned, up from 88.2 percent last year. This 8.6 cent gap in wages was well ahead of the next best state, Vermont, where women on average made 84.3 percent of what men made. In Wyoming, the state with the worst wage gap, women’s earnings represented only 63.8 percent of men’s earnings, down from 65.5 percent in 2009.

New GAO Report
on Gender Pay Differences


At a Nov. 3, 2011 press conference, Sen. Bob Casey, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, former JEC chair, discussed the findings of a new GAO report, “Gender Pay Differences: Progress Made, but Women Remain Overrepresented Among Low-wage Workers.” (Download PDF)

The report about low-wage and less-educated workers shows that even in low-wage jobs women, who make up the majority of low-wage workers, earn less than their male counterparts. NCPE Chair Michele Leber was one of the speakers at the press conference.

Equal Pay Day 2011

On the 16th annual Equal Pay Day, people are blogging, tweeting, discussing, and editorializing, and releasing new information about the persistent gender wage gap. Today President Obama issued a proclamation and supporters of equal pay gathered as a flash mob in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

And women are wearing red, to show that they're still in the red regarding their pay. In 1979, when NCPE was established, women, women earned 59.7 cents for every dollar men earned. In 1996, the first National Pay Inequity Day (as it was then called) noted that--based on 1994 statistics, the latest available--women were earning 72 cents for every dollar men earned. Things haven't improved much since then, with women's earnings hovering around 76-77 percent of men's this century.

How to close the gender pay gap? An important step is to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act (PFA) which strengthens and updates the Equal Pay Act of 1963. PFA was passed by the House of Representatives twice in the last session of Congress and narrowly defeated on a 58-41 partisan procedural vote in the Senate in November. It is being reintroduced today by Sen. Barbara Mikulski and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, along with the Fair Pay Act, sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton. Contact your Congressional representatives and ask them to support and cosponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act.

The Simple Truth About the Gender Pay Gap from the American Association of University Women provides key facts about the gender pay gap, with explanations and resources to help you effectively advocate for pay equity.

The Gender Wage Gap By Occupation from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research shows women earning less than men in 107 of 111 occupations, regardless of levels of education. [Press release]

From the National Women's Law Center:

State-by-state equal pay fact sheets from the National Partnership for Women & Families and AAUW show that the wage gap costs America’s working women hundreds of billions in critical income each year. [Press release]

Equal Pay Day 2011 Op-Eds:

White House Report Notes Wage Gap

Summary

Full report

 

A new White House report, “Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being” addresses women’s present role in family life, education, employment, health, and crime in American society. The report, which is the first of its kind in nearly 50 years, also challenges policymakers, researchers, and advocates to do more to further the collection of gender-specific data in the future. It notes that women's gains in education and increased participation in the labor force have not yet translated into wage and income equity; at all levels of education, women earned about 75 percent of what their male counterparts earned in 2009. (NOTE: the 75 percent figure applies only to workers aged 25 and older and is a special calculation of weekly median earnings data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.) Women are more likely to live in poverty than men, and the economic inequities for women of color are even greater.

Paycheck Fairness Act Defeated in Senate, But Fight Goes On

On Nov. 17. 2010, the Paycheck Fairness Act suffered a procedural defeat on a 58-41 vote in the Senate to consider the bill. The bill had been passed by the House of Representatives on Jan. 9, 2009 and had widespread support of the public, as shown in polling, and the White House. All Republicans voted against considering the bill; see the vote count here.

President Obama issued the following statement after the Senate vote: "I am deeply disappointed that a minority of Senators have prevented the Paycheck Fairness Act from finally being brought up for a debate and receiving a vote. This bill passed in the House almost two years ago; today, it had 58 votes to move forward, the support of the majority of Senate, and the support of the majority of Americans. As we emerge from one of the worst recessions in history, this bill would ensure that American women and their families aren’t bringing home smaller paychecks because of discrimination. It also helps businesses that pay equal wages as they struggle to compete against discriminatory competition. But a partisan minority of Senators blocked this commonsense law. Despite today’s vote, my Administration will continue to fight for a woman’s right to equal pay for equal work."

NCPE will continue to work with the Fair Pay Campaign to close the gender wage gap. Write your senators about their vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act, and urge them to support future legislation aimed at closing the wage gap. The fight goes on.

Polling Data Shows Overwhelming Support of Paycheck Fairness Act

In a recent nationwide poll of registered voters, 84% supported "a new law that would provide women more tools to get fair pay in the workplace." When poll respondents were told that the "law will also make it harder for employers to justify paying different wages for the same work and ensure that businesses that break the law compensate women fairly," 72% strongly supported such a law. This support was consistent across lines of gender, race, geographic regions, and political parties. See data from the National Partnership for Women & Families.


Join the Fair Pay Campaign
to support pay equity legislation

The Fair Pay Campaign is led by the American Association of University Women, the Feminist Majority Foundation, Legal Momentum, the National Organization for Women, the National Partnership for Women and Families, and the National Women's Law Center, with 250 other local, state, and national groups -- including NCPE -- joining them.

 

Michele Leber, NCPE chair, debates USA Today about the wage gap:

Old attitudes die hard: Discrimination prevents women from getting salaries they deserve

...written in response to USA Today's opinion piece Why women earn less: Career choices, business ventures are bigger factors than gender bias


Photos from past Equal Pay Day events


Ledbetter Bill Becomes Law

On January 29, 2009 President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law, making it the first legislation of his administration. The Act reverses the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling in 2007 (Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.) and restores the ability of victims of wage discrimination to hold their employers accountable for injustice and challenge the practice in court. Lilly Ledbetter was with the President when he signed the bill. VIEW VIDEO from the signing

The Senate passed the bill January 22 by a vote of 61 to 36: VOTE TALLY
The House passed the bill January 27 by a vote of 250 to 177: VOTE TALLY

WORK$MART: Pay Negotiation for Women,
a two-part webinar by Evelyn Murphy of The WAGE Project presented by the National Women's Law Center. Download the presentations and recordings:

WORK$MART: Pay Negotiation for Women (Part 1) was held on Oct. 1, 2008:
Download the presentation as a PDF     Watch a replay of the webinar

WORK$MART: Pay Negotiation for Women (Part 2) was held on Oct. 8, 2008:
Download the presentation as a PDF    Watch a replay of the webinar

WAGE: Women Are Getting Even
WAGE Clubs:
Nationwide grassroots movement to close the wage gap

On Equal Pay Day, April 25, 2006 NCPE -- in collaboration with Business and Professional Women/USA (BPW/USA); the WAGE Project, a new grassroots organization dedicated to closing the wage gap, and other leading national organizations -- announced at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC a new nationwide grassroots movement designed to close the wage gap once and for all.

Through this movement, WAGE Clubs are forming throughout the country to mobilize groups of women to talk about the wage gap and to obtain the tools, support and momentum they need to get even at work.

The wage gap costs the average American full-time woman worker between $700,000 and $2 million over the course of her lifetime, according to economist Evelyn Murphy, president of the WAGE Project.

Speakers at the press conference, who discussed the current status of federal equal pay legislation and the need for multiple approaches to this long-standing problem, included members of Congress: Senator Tom Harkin, Representative Rosa DeLauro, and Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton; Michele Leber, Chair, NCPE; Roslyn Ridgeway, President, BPW/USA; Evelyn Murphy; and Annie Houle, Founder, The Maine WAGE Project.

If we didn't have a wage gap, we wouldn't need this coupon!
NCPE's COUPON was featured in Jan-Feb 2005 Making Bread Magazine ("Female Finance" column on pages 20-23)!
Updated December 21, 2011          National Committee on Pay Equity           website: Swerdloff Digital Design