National Equal Pay Day
Floor Speech
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Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I come to the floor with my colleague from Minnesota and my colleague Senator Murray from Washington, along with our other colleagues who have already been here to speak about the important issue of paycheck fairness.
It is truly shameful this kind of discrimination still exists. We have heard the statistics about what the pay gap means, but literally over someone's career--over a 40-year career--a woman in my state could lose as much as $500,000 in income. An Asian American woman could lose $700,000 over a 40-year career and a Native American woman could lose as much as $900,000 over the same time period. So, yes, when women are discriminated against, it costs them and their families.
The gender pay gap issue is a family issue. Women are breadwinners too. Women today still earn only 79 cents for every $1 paid to a man. This means less food on the table, less money to buy clothing for their children, or less money for insurance premiums. What we need to do is make sure we are listening to these stories and taking action.
Here is a story from one of my constituents, Adrianna from Olympia. She said:
In 1993, when I was in college, I was working at a restaurant. . . . This job enabled me to pay my way through school with no student loans. A young man several years younger than me with less experience was making a larger wage and I found out about it. I politely confronted the owner as to why this fellow was making more money than me. The owner was caught off guard and could give me no reason whatsoever. . . . The thing that really stuck in my craw was that the young man told me he only worked there so he could get money to gamble. . . . Of course, I had no other choice and worked 7 days a week for 5 years to get a Bachelor's degree.
Unfortunately, this story isn't unique. Wage discrimination affects a wide range of professional fields, including realtors, educators, administrators, and even CEOs. For example, male surgeons earn 37 percent more per week than their female counterparts. In real terms, that female surgeon earns $756 less per week than her male colleagues, and this adds up. And this does not apply only to high-paying, male- dominated careers: Women are 94.6 percent of all secretaries and administrative assistants. Yet they still earn only 84 percent of what their male counterparts earn per week.
My colleague Senator Murray brought up the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team that helped bring this issue to the forefront. Despite being more successful and attracting more viewers than the men's team, the U.S. women's soccer team still is paid 25 percent less than the men's team.
In fact, one of my constituents last week--an 11-year-old girl soccer player from Washington--asked: If I keep playing sports, am I going to get fair pay?
Young women are asking us to do our job and make sure we pass legislation that helps. That is why we commend Senator Mikulski for introducing the Paycheck Fairness Act and for her tireless efforts on this legislation. I am proud to be one of its cosponsors.
The Paycheck Fairness Act requires that pay be job related and not discriminate based on gender. It would strengthen the penalties for discrimination and give women the tools they need to identify and confront unfair treatment. It would make sure we recognize women are breadwinners, too, and that they get the equal pay they deserve.
That is why my colleagues are coming to the floor today to say we should pass this bill this year. We don't need to commemorate another day of what women have done for our country; women need to receive equal pay for the equal work they are doing. I thank my colleagues for helping to bring attention to this issue, and I encourage the passage of this legislation.
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