I’m having a head/desk day. You know the kind; where you just want to bang your head on your desk because you’re so frustrated. [1]

Hi! I just got the email below from MomsRising about Equal Pay Day and closing the gender wage gap. I took action and thought you would want to take action too!
-Thanks!

========= Original Message =========

Dear Friend

Why? Because today is Equal Pay Day – the day that marks how far into 2013 women have to work to earn what men earned for the same work in 2012. [2] And at the rate we’re going, the wage gap won’t close until 2057 – that’s 45 years from now! [3]

It’s time for this to change, and momentum is on our side. President Obama addressed the need for fair pay policies in both his inauguration speech and at the State of the Union and last month the U.S. Senate took a baby step forward by creating a reserve fund for Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act without adding to the national deficit. [4,5,6]

Baby steps are great. But now is the time for big strides forward for fair pay. Click here to make sure Congress and leaders know that we expect them to prioritize policies that make equal pay a reality: Pass the Paycheck Fairness Act through Congress and also move forward with Executive Action to address pay disparities:

http://action.momsrising.org/sign/EqualPayDay_2013/?source=taf

Despite the fact that the Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963 -- 50 years ago this June -- women in 2013, and moms in particular, are still paid less than men are paid for doing the same job. The U.S. Census found that women who worked full-time, year-round on average still made 23 cents less for every dollar earned by their male counterparts. [7] And, the wage gap for women of color was even more staggering than for women overall: When Black and Hispanic women work full-time, year-round, they only make 62 and 53 cents, respectively, for every dollar their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts earn. [8]

Further, moms experience some of the most extreme wage hits. For example, a recent study found that with equal resumes and job experiences, mothers were offered $11,000 lower starting salaries than non-mothers (fathers, on the other hand, were offered $6,000 more in starting salaries than non-fathers). [9] Another study found that women without children make 90 cents to a man's dollar, mothers make 73 cents to a man's dollar, and single moms make only about 60 cents to a man's dollar. [10]

Since over 80% of women in our nation have children by the time they're 44 years old, this means the majority of women in our nation are touched by this type of wage discrimination at some point in their lives.

Equal pay for equal work is critical to ensuring our families’ economic security. It's ridiculous that we're still battling for fair pay. And yet, here we are.

The Paycheck Fairness Act will help because it will: [11]

Prohibit employers from retaliating against workers who discuss salaries with colleagues;
Put gender-based discrimination on equal footing with other forms of wage discrimination such as race or national origin, and allow women to take legal action for damages;
Require employers to prove that pay differences exist for legitimate, job-related reasons;
Create a negotiation skills training program for women and girls;
Recognize employers for excellence in their pay practices;
Provide businesses, especially small ones, assistance with equal pay practices, and
Enhance the Department of Labor’s and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s abilities to investigate and enforce pay discrimination laws.
So we’re picking our heads up off of our desks and taking action to make sure that Congress and the President know we expect them to prioritize policies that make equal pay a reality now because waiting another 45 years would be a giant headache for all of us.

Tell them: Pass the Paycheck Fairness Act through Congress and also move forward with Executive Action to address pay disparities:

http://action.momsrising.org/sign/EqualPayDay_2013/?source=taf

**Please pass this message on to your friends and family so they can take action too. And maybe get some ice for your head.

Together we're a powerful force for women and families!

-Ruth, Kristin, Charlie, Anita, Elisa and the whole MomsRising.org team



P.S. With our super cool twitter tool with just a few clicks you can send a tweet your members of Congress urging them to stand up for paycheck fairness! http://momsvoice.momsrising.org/main?source=taf

P.P.S. This week on MomsRising Radio with Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner we On this show we talk about what it's going to take for women to finally get equal pay for equal work. LISTEN: In the DC-area, MI, OK, and anytime on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/momsrising-radio-kristin-rowe/id533519537



[1] Urban Dictionary

[2] National Committee for Pay Equity

[3] IWPR: At current rate of progress, wage gap for women expected to close in 2057

[4] 2013 Inaugural Address

[5] 2013 State of the Union Address

[6] Forbes.com

[7] AAUW: The Simple Truth About the Pay Gap, 2013

[8] NWLC: Closing the Wage Gap is Especially Important for Women of Color, April, 2012

[9] Cornell University Chronicle Online, “Motherhood and the math factor: Sociologist Shelley Correll exposes biases that affect women in business and academia,” 2007

[10] Jane Waldfogel, “Understanding the Family Gap in Pay for Women with Children”, 1998

[11] Paycheck Fairness Act HR 377 and S 84