The Shriver Report – Take Action Tuesday: Fight for Fair Pay
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Take Action Tuesday: Fight for Fair Pay

Take Action Tuesday is a new weekly feature that highlights ways you can take action for a cause. With the help of our friends at MomsRising, each week we compile information you need to know – and what you can do to make a difference.

Be sure to share this on Facebook and Twitter and ask your family and friends to join in, too. Because together we can bring about change.

Fotolia_49582439_Take Action

© momius – Fotolia.com

The Cause:

Last week, Twitter and the web exploded with talk about GM’s first female CEO, Mary Barra, and the fact that she was possibly being paid significantly less than  her male predecessor. [1] While the story is more complex, given the convoluted way executive pay is structured, it raised the question, again, about what women can do if they feel they are not receiving fair pay.

Here’s the kicker: The tools don’t exist to fight this discrimination because it’s actually LEGAL for some employers to fire or punish employees who inquire about wage discrepancies. [2] So how will a woman know she’s being paid less if she can’t ask?

Why Should I Care?

It’s been more than 50 years since the Equal Pay Act was passed, but women on average still earn about 23% less than white men earn for the same work–with mothers and women of color bearing the largest burden of pay discrimination. [3,4]

The wage gap hurts women, their families, and the economy. We know that women on average earn only 77 cents on the dollar and that when Black and Hispanic women work full-time, year-round, they only make 64 and 54 cents, respectively, for every dollar their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts earn. [5]

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). [6] 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. [7]

What YOU Can Do:

Back the Paycheck Fairness Act[8].

Click here to tell Congress and the President that we expect them to prioritize policies that bar employers from punishing employees who discuss their pay with coworkers by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act and moving forward with Executive Action to address pay disparities: 

The Act will:

  • 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.

Special thank you to MomsRising. For more, visit them at MomsRising.org or follow them on Twitter.

Related:

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[1] CNN MoneyFox Business and Think Progress

[2] Paycheck Fairness Act HR 377 and S 84

[3] Cornell University Chronicle Online, “Motherhood and the math factor: Sociologist Shelley Correll exposes biases that affect women in business and academia,” 2007 AND NWLC: Closing the Wage Gap is Crucial for Women of Color and their Families, 2013

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

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

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

[7] Paycheck Fairness Act HR 377 and S 84

[8] NWLC: Closing the Wage Gap is Crucial for Women of Color and their Families, 2013