AAUW Celebrates House Passage of Paycheck Fairness Act

WASHINGTON – AAUW applauds the House of Representatives for passing (247-178) the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 1338). If signed into law, the measure would strengthen and update the Equal Pay Act—passed 45 years ago—and would provide critical tools in the fight to close the sizable wage gap between men and women.

Nearly a century after AAUW called for a repeal of salary restrictions in the Women’s Bureau, women working full time earn, on average, about 77 cents for every dollar their male counterparts earn.* Women of color face an even larger wage gap. AAUW’s 2007 Behind the Pay Gap report found that the pay gap between college-educated men and women appears the first year after college—even when women are working full time in the same fields as men—and continues to widen over time.**

“AAUW has long supported a fair playing field and a fair paying field—the Paycheck Fairness Act represents both,” said AAUW Executive Director Linda D. Hallman, CAE. “AAUW continues to be on the frontline of the pay equity fight. Our members have worked tirelessly to pass this bill.”
Championed by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the Paycheck Fairness Act would deter wage discrimination by strengthening penalties for equal pay violations and by prohibiting retaliation against workers who inquire about employers’ wage practices or disclose their own wages. Under the bill, employers would have to show that wage gaps truly are the result of factors other than sex discrimination. It would also require the U.S. Department of Labor to reinstate activities that promote equal pay, including collecting wage-related data. The bill had 231 co-sponsors when it passed.
“This vote was a fair measure of representatives’ stance on pay equity issues,” said Lisa M. Maatz, AAUW director of public policy and government relations. “AAUW will include the vote in our Congressional Voting Record for the 110th Congress, and we’ll make sure our members have the information they need to hold their elected officials accountable.”

Among their top issues, younger women especially identified equal pay for equal work as a main concern.***
“Concerns over pay equity will be one of the key issues that drives women to the polls,” Maatz said. “In this economy and this election year, AAUW believes now is the time to address these issues.”
--------------------------------
*U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (August 2007). Annual Demographic Survey.
** AAUW Educational Foundation. (2007). Behind the Pay Gap, by Catherine Hill and Judy Goldberg Dey. Washington, DC.
***Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. “Unmarried Women and Pay Inequity.” May 29, 2007. Retrieved July 16, 2008 from http://www.wvwv.org/assets/2007/10/22/payequity6.1.pdf. In a January 2007 Women’s Voices, Women Vote survey of 1000 unmarried women, pay equity ranked at the top of vote-driving issues.