Women Deserve More Than 77 Cents to the Dollar

by Lauren Kelley · 2010-04-23 09:00:00 UTC
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I'm sure everyone is aware that yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. It's been all over the news! But there was another important holiday this week that got a lot less attention: Equal Pay Day.

Recognized this year on April 20, Equal Pay Day is an effort of the National Committee on Pay Equity that acknowledges how far into 2010 the average woman has had to work in order to earn what the average man earned in 2009.

That's right, a full 47 years after the passage of the Equal Pay Act, women still earn only a fraction (about 77 percent) of what men earn in this country. And for most women of color, that wage gap is even greater. African-American women, for instance, earned less than 68 percent of what men earned in 2008. What's more, we seem to be moving in the wrong direction, as the wage gap for African-American women was actually less the year before.

This persistent wage inequity is problematic for many reasons, not the least of which is that women already are much more likely than men to live in poverty — a fact that holds true across all racial and ethic groups. And the problem has only been exacerbated by the current economic situation. As Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) noted over at the Huffington Post, unemployment rates have been higher for men than for women during this recession, meaning that an increasing number of women are bearing the burden of supporting their families on one paycheck.

If you're wondering how we find ourselves in this predicament today, the answer lies in part in a loophole in the Equal Pay Act that allows employers to legally engage in sex-based wage discrimination. Support the closure of the loophole — and, in turn, support women living in poverty — by urging your Congressman to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act that's been languishing in the Senate since last year. The act would make it illegal for employers to value the work of men and women differently unless there is "a legitimate business reason for doing so."

Photo credit: rutlo

Lauren Kelley is an associate editor at AlterNet and a freelance writer. She has volunteered for Planned Parenthood of North Texas, Amnesty International, 826NYC and other groups.

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