Dodd: We Must Act to Eliminate Pay Discrimination

Press Release

Dodd: We Must Act to Eliminate Pay Discrimination

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) released the following statement today as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) conducted a hearing on pay equity in the workplace. Dodd is the author of legislation, the Paycheck Fairness Act, that would help women achieve pay equity by giving them stronger legal footing when they need to take their employers to court over wage discrimination.

At the hearing, Dodd introduced the first panelist to testify, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-3). Dodd and DeLauro, along with Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), have been leading the fight for the passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act in the Senate and House of Representatives.

"It's embarrassing that we have to be here today talking about the wage gap between men and women," said Dodd. "It is, after all, 2010. We have made so much progress as a nation to eradicate discrimination in all its forms. And yet, women still earn just 77 percent of what men earn."

"The average woman in my state of Connecticut needs a bachelor's degree just to earn what a man with a high school diploma earns," Dodd continued. "The gap is larger in the African-American and Hispanic communities, it persists across the income spectrum, and, astonishingly, in some occupations it's actually getting worse with time."

The Paycheck Fairness Act would fix a loophole in the Equal Pay Act of 1963 by clarifying what constitutes acceptable reasons for differences in pay; put gender-based discrimination sanctions on equal footing with other forms of wage discrimination by allowing women to sue for compensatory and punitive damages; and prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who share salary information with their co-workers.

Additionally, the legislation would strengthen the Department of Labor's ability to help women achieve pay equity by requiring them to enhance outreach and training efforts in order to eliminate pay disparities and require the Department of Labor to continue to collect and disseminate wage information based on gender. The bill also would create a competitive grant program to provide negotiation skills training programs for girls and women.

Below are the Senator's remarks, as prepared for delivery.

Thank you, Chairman Harkin. You have long been a champion on this issue, and I thank you for calling this important hearing I have the privilege of introducing our first witness this morning, a good friend of mine and a great public servant from Connecticut, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. Throughout her career, she has been one of the most vocal and successful advocates for women and families, and I am delighted that she is here to join us today.

It is, frankly, a little embarrassing that we have to be here today talking about the wage gap between men and women. It is, after all, 2010. We have made so much progress as a nation to eradicate discrimination in all its forms.

And yet, as we convene this morning, women still earn just 77% of what men earn. The average woman in my state of Connecticut needs a bachelor's degree just to earn what a man with a high school diploma earns. The gap is larger in the African-American and Hispanic communities, it persists across the income spectrum, and, astonishingly, in some occupations it's actually getting worse with time.

Even when studies control for factors such as education, job tenure, and choice of industry, the gap remains. As we'll hear from Heather Boushey, labor economists have conducted study after study and controlled for every measurable variable--job characteristics, union membership, ethnic and racial background, educational experience, and on and on--and still cannot explain nearly half of the wage gap. The answer is that women are being paid less than men simply because they are women.

This isn't just a matter of fairness. It's a matter of economic security for millions of American families. In 2008, two out of every five mothers were their families' breadwinners, either as a single parent or as the spouse with the higher income. These women are being hurt, and so are their families. And the recession is only increasing this trend.

I am so proud that the first law President Obama signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which reverses an awful Supreme Court decision that barred women from the judicial system from fighting against pay discrimination. And Rosa DeLauro was one of the lead people fighting day and night in the House of Representatives to get that important legislation over the finish line.

But as significant an achievement as that law was, we still need to act to eliminate that pay discrimination so that women don't have to fight it in the first place.

That's why, for the last seven Congresses, I've cosponsored the Paycheck Fairness Act. And that's why I was an original cosponsor of Chairman Harkin's Fair Pay Act.

As we'll hear today, the wage gap is an anachronism, a relic of discrimination that should be stamped out. It's not just about women's rights -- it's about economic justice.

Rosa DeLauro has been the lead sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act in the House year after year. She is tireless in her devotion to the issue. There is no advocate for pay equity more compelling and more eloquent than Rosa, and she is a true champion for women everywhere. I'm proud to fight with her to see this through, and thrilled that she's joined us today to talk about this important issue.

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