Senator Clinton Co-Chairs Senate Hearing on the Need for Equal Pay

Statement

Senator Clinton Co-Chairs Senate Hearing on the Need for Equal Pay

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) today co-chaired, along with Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), a Senate hearing to draw attention to the need to close the continuing pay gap between men and women. Senator Clinton is the lead Senate sponsor of The Paycheck Fairness Act which would take critical steps to empower women to negotiate for equal pay, to create strong incentives for employers to obey the Equal Pay Act and to strengthen federal outreach and enforcement efforts. The legislation has been introduced in the House by Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT).

"It is in all of our interests, men and women, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, to pursue, and finally achieve, equal wages for equal work. The pay gap is not a problem to be ignored or denied. Equality works for all of us and it's my hope that in this new Congress, we can make sure that everyone in America works in equality," said Senator Clinton.

Forty four years after the Equal Pay Act was signed into law, pay discrimination still exists in the workplace. Today, women working full time, year-round, still make only 77 cents for every dollar made by a man. As a result, millions of American families lose out because equal pay is still not a reality. According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, working women stand to lose $250,000 over the course of their career because of unequal pay practices. According to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the wage gap continues to persist even though women posted a greater net increase in jobs paying above the median salary than men from 2000 to 2005. In 2005, the median weekly pay for men was $663 compared to 73 percent of that for women, who earned $486 a week on average.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would address this problem by preventing, regulating and reducing pay discrimination for women across the country. The Paycheck Fairness Act would create a training program to help women strengthen their negotiation skills, enforce equal pay laws for federal contractors and require the Department of Labor to work with employers to eliminate pay disparities by enhancing outreach and training efforts. The bill would also prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who share salary information with their co-workers and allow women to sue for punitive damages in addition to compensatory damages now available under the Equal Pay Act.

The Paycheck Fairness Act is co-sponsored by Senators Joseph Biden (D-DE), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Russell Feingold (D-WI), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), John Kerry (D-MA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Harry Reid (D-NV), Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Bernard Sanders (I-VT).

In addition to sponsoring the Paycheck Fairness Act, Senator Clinton last year co-hosted a "Pay Equity for Women" seminar with Stony Brook University that drew hundreds of students as well as leading educators and experts in gender equity business issues. At the seminar, Senator Clinton unveiled a resource guide titled, "Know What to Ask & Know Your Rights: A Pay Equity Guide on How to Help Yourself in the Workplace."

The guide is an informative tool for young women entering the workforce and can be found on Senator Clinton's web site.

Source