Still Just 77 Cents for Every Dollar

I got a message recently from the National Organization for Women (NOW) about pay equity. Apparently women are still only paid 77 cents for every dollar men are paid. The current administration would like to stop collecting data on women workers altogether, rather than standing up for the rights of women workers to be free from discrimination and paid what they are worth. April 24 is Equal Pay Day—the day women workers finally "get out of the red" and their earnings catch up with men's earnings for all of last year. One thing you can do in favor of pay equity is to ask your U.S. senators and representative to sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act introduced last month by Democrats Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Rosa DeLauro. The Paycheck Fairness Act aims to reduce the pay gap in several ways:

1. Enhances the enforcement of requirements of the Equal Pay Act and require a stronger commitment from the Department of Labor in its responsibilities to women workers.
2. Provides for training programs for the people who deal with matters involving discrimination in the payment of wages.
3. Requires that the EEOC to gather more comprehensive and useful data from employers—without imposing additional reporting and paperwork requirements—that can be used in the enforcement of federal laws prohibiting pay discrimination.
4. Finally, the bill prohibits employers from punishing employees who share salary information with co-workers.

Send a message to your legislators about the Paycheck Fairness Act. If your legislator is already a co-sponsor then the email will be a thank you message, otherwise the message will encourage the legislator to sign on. Learn more about pay equity and what else you can do.