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Equal Pay Day: Tuesday, April 22
Equal Pay Day is observed in April to
indicate how far into each year a woman must work to receive as much as a man
was paid in the previous year. Tuesday symbolizes the day when
women’s wages catch up with men’s wages from the previous week.
For women of color the wage gap is even greater.
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Tuesday, April 22:
National Call in Day asking Senators to vote on the Fair Pay
Restoration Act (S.1843)
Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121
or click here to send an email!
Wednesday, April 23:
Come to the Capitol Hill news conference urging passage of the Fair Pay Restoration Act,
11 a.m. in Senate Russell Rm. 385
Speakers include Sen. Ted Kennedy, Rep. George Miller (chair of the House Education and Labor Committee), AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker and CLUW President Marsha Zakowski.
Download flier (pdf) |
The Coalition of Labor
Union Women, along with the National Committee on Pay Equity, the AFL-CIO and coalition partners, has declared
Tuesday, April 22 Equal Pay Day for 2008. Equal
pay has been the law since 1963. But today, 45 years
later, women are still paid less than men—even
when we have similar education, skills and experience.
To raise awareness and to press for passage of the Fair Pay Restoration Act, CLUW and its partners have planned Equal Pay Day events, including a news conference and a National Call-Your-Senators Day to pass the Fair Pay
Restoration Act.
The recent Supreme Court ruling Ledbetter v. Goodyear makes it
virtually impossible for employees who face pay discrimination based on
sex, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, and age to take action
against their employers. Congress can correct this wrong and
ensure that employees can fight for justice when they face pay
discrimination. Urge the Senate to vote soon and pass the Fair
Pay Restoration Act S. 1843.
April 22: National Call in Day asking Senators to vote on the Fair Pay
Restoration Act. Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121.
April 23: National press conference and the awarding of the Winn Newman Award to
Lilly Ledbetter. |
 Read the AFL-CIO blog for background on Fair Pay legislation.
Visit the National Committee on Pay Equity for more on Equal Pay Day and the decades-old promise of equal pay for equal work. |
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CLUW urges its members to
WEAR RED on Equal Pay Day
to symbolize that women and
minorities
are "in the red"
with their pay! |
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If we didn't
have a wage gap, we wouldn't need this coupon:
Women should get 23% off all goods and services to make up for the wage gap!! |
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It’s
time for working women to earn equal pay
Help
raise awareness about unfair pay in America |
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Equal Pay Day Kit
for CLUW Chapters
Activities and suggestions for visibilty
in your community |
| Flier about Equal Pay Day |
| Legislative background — laws being considered to eliminate the gap between men's and women's wages. |
| Equal Pay Day Activities — suggests activities that you can undertake in your local area to raise awareness about the pay gap and ways to close it. |
| Sample Letter to the Editor — Suggested letter to send to the newspaper in your locale. |
| Equal Pay Day Proclamation — sample proclamation that you can encourage the mayor of your city or the chair of your central labor body to endorse and publicize. |
| Activity Response Form — Tell the National CLUW office about you Equal Pay Day event. |
| About WAGE Clubs — groups of women are mobilizing around the country to talk about the wage gap and to obtain the tools, support and momentum they need to get even at work. |
Equal
pay has been the law since 1963. But today, 45 years
later, women are still paid less than men—even
when we have similar education, skills and experience.
While women's wages have risen in all states, in terms of inflation-adjusted dollars, since 1989, the typical full-time woman worker does not make as much as the typical man in any state. At the present rate of progress, it will take 50 years to close the wage gap nationwide.
In
2007, women were paid 77 cents for every dollar men
received. That's $23 less to spend on groceries, housing,
child care and other expenses for every $100 worth of
work we do. Nationwide, working families lose $200 billion
of income annually to the wage gap.
Over
a lifetime of work, the 23 cents-on-the-dollar we're
losing adds up. The average 25-year-old working woman
will lose more than $523,000 to unequal pay during her
working life.These
figures are even worse for women of color.
And
because we're paid less now, we have less to save for
our futures and we'll earn smaller pensions than men.
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CLUW
is an active participant in the National
Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE).
Founded in 1979, NCPE is the national membership
coalition of over 80 organizations — including
labor unions, women's and civil rights organizations,
religious, professional, education and legal associations,
commissions on women, state and local pay equity
coalitions and individual women and men —
working to eliminate sex- and race-based wage
discrimination and to achieve pay equity.
Each
year, the NCPE organizes the national observance
of Equal
Pay Day to raise awareness about unfair
pay in America. In 2008, Equal Pay Day is observed
on Tuesday, April 22. Tuesday is symbolic of the
point into the new week that a woman must work
in order to earn the wages paid to a man in the
previous week. |
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Why
are women paid less than men?
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Jobs usually held by women pay less than jobs
traditionally held by men-even if they require
the same education, skills and responsibilities.
For example, stock and inventory clerks, who are
mostly men, earn about $493 a week. Data entry
keyers, on the other hand, are mostly women and
they earn only $441 a week.
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Women don't have equal job opportunities. A newly
hired woman may get a lower-paying assignment
than a man starting work at the same time for
the same employer. That first job starts her career
path and can lead to a lifetime of lower pay.
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Women don't have an equal chance at promotions,
training and apprenticeships. Because all these
opportunities affect pay, women don't move up
the earnings ladder as men do. |
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What’s
the difference between ‘Equal
Pay’ and ‘Pay Equity’?
Equal
pay and pay equity are terms that are used to describe
solutions to the dilemma of unequal pay. In 1963, Congress
passed the Equal Pay Act, which outlawed the standard
business practice of paying women less then men even
when they were doing exactly the same work. Its mandate
was straightforward: equal pay for equal work.
However,
other forms of discrimination, including setting lower
wages for "women's jobs," continue to depress
wages for women. Pay equity is the term more often used
to describe the remedy for wage discrimination against
women - or equal pay for work of equal value.
For more information, see Equal Pay section of AFL-CIO website
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