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Equal Pay Day - April 9, 2013
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Equal Pay Day was originated by NCPE in 1996 to make the public aware of the gender wage gap. Women then earned 73.8 cents for every dollar men earned, based on Census figures of the median wages of all full-time, year-round workers. Women now earn 77.4 cents for every dollar men earn. That's not much progress in 16 years. Women have marked Equal Pay Day with a host of events (see below), wearing red on that day to show that women's wages are still in the red. |
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About
Equal Pay Day |
President Proclaims Equal Pay Day
President Obama Details Efforts to Help Women Economically
At a White House Forum on Women and the Economy on April 6, 2012, President Obama announced the release of the new report by the White House Council on Women and Girls, "Keeping America's Women Moving Forward," that details the progress the administration has made in initiatives to help women economically. He also acknowledged the continued pay gap, saying, "Overall, a woman with a college degree doing the same work as a man will earn hundreds of thousands of dollars less over the course of her career." And in an op-ed last week, he emphasized the importance of fixing that, writing "Closing this pay gap -- ending this pay discrimination -- is about far more than simple fairness, it's about strengthening families, communities and our entire economy."
The White House released the Equal Pay Task Force Accomplishments Report: Fighting for Fair Pay in the Workplace (pdf). The report details the significant progress that the Task Force has made to fight pay discrimination – including improving inter-agency coordination and collaboration to ensure that the full weight of the federal government is focused on closing the gender pay gap once and for all. |
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The Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau published two brochures that will help educate employees regarding their rights under the existing equal pay laws and enable employers to understand their obligations:
>> A Guide to Women's Equal Pay Rights (pdf)
>> An Employer's Guide to Equal Pay (pdf)
Winners of the Equal Pay App Challenge. The Department of Labor invited software developers to use publicly available data and resources to create applications for smart phones and other devices. The apps help provide access to basic information – e.g., typical salary ranges and skill level requirements for particular positions, advice on how to negotiate appropriate pay. |
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 were blogging, tweeting, discussing, and editorializing, and releasing new information about the persistent gender wage gap. President Obama issued a proclamation and supporters of equal pay gathered as a flash mob in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
And women were 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 2010. It was reintroduced on Equal Pay Day 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:
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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]
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Equal Pay Day 2011 Op-Eds:
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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)! |
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. |
Photos from past Equal Pay Day events |
White House Report
Notes Wage Gap
A White House report released in March 2011, 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. |
Summary
Full report
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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 2010 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 . |
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 |
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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.
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| Updated
May 8, 2012
National Committee on Pay Equity website: Swerdloff Digital Design |
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