Today, April 20, 2010, is Fair Pay Day, also called Equal Pay Day. This date symbolizes how far into the year a woman must work, on average, to catch up with what the average man earned in 2009 here in the U.S.
According to the National Women's Law Center (NWLC), on average, women are paid only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. For women of color, the numbers are even worse.
It was a good step forward last year when President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law. The Ledbetter Act gives women some options when they discover that they've been victims of pay discrimination.
But there is more work to be done.
The AAUW says that "giving women the Ledbetter Act without the Paycheck Fairness Act is like giving them the nail without the hammer."
To that end, we need to get the Senate moving towards passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act (S.182), which would further help to deter wage discrimination against women.
According to the NWLC, the Paycheck Fairness Act would "update and strengthen laws against wage discrimination, create stronger incentives for employers to follow the law, and strengthen federal outreach and enforcement efforts. Additionally, the bill includes tougher penalties for equal pay violations."
As Barack Obama proclaimed at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, "Now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day's work, because I want my daughters to have the exact same opportunities as your sons."
Amen!
>> Click here to urge your senators to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act!
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