Have you heard?  I'm hearing people talk about women's paychecks in grocery lines, at parent gatherings, on coffee breaks, in the news, and... in the U.S. Senate.  Finally!  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed a cloture petition on the Paycheck Fairness Act — which is Washington-DC-speak for preparing a bill for a vote.

That's right. As more and more families are relying on the paychecks of mothers, equal pay for equal work is more important than ever -- and not a moment too soon, the Paycheck Fairness bill is finally gaining momentum.  The constant pressure of MomsRising members to keep this bill on the front burner is now paying off.  And, now we've got to increase the pressure to ensure the U.S. Senate votes for Paycheck Fairness when they come back to D.C. in November!

*Help increase the pressure to keep Paycheck Fairness on the front burner!  It's easy.  Just take 30 seconds to send a letter to your Senators with 1-click now: http://action.momsrising.org/go/422

What are all these people talking about anyway?

There's been a flurry of recent research and articles showing that women--and particularly mothers--aren't getting paid fairly:

• Data recently released by 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. (This marks no change from 2008’s wage gap and amounts to nearly $11,000 per year in lost earnings).  And, the wage gap for women of color in 2009 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. [1]

• Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report which found that mothers who are working in management positions earned 79 cents for every dollar earned by fathers who are managers, unchanged from 2000.  Further, in 12 out of the 13 major industries, fathers were more likely than mothers to be managers. [2]

• Also last week, The Wall Street Journal reported: "...the pay gap could easily create a retirement savings shortfall of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Consider this example of a female and male manager, both 50 years old and looking to retire at 65.  She makes $81,000, he makes $100,000 in 2010, and each gets a standard 2% annual raise.  Not only will he end up earning more than $350,000 than she did over those 15 years, he’ll also end up saving 23% more for retirement– even though both contributed 10% of their income to their retirement funds each year and got a 5% average annual rate of return." [3]

• Earlier this week, Bloomberg News reported: "Women managers in finance, a group that includes bank tellers as well as executives, earned 63.9 cents for every dollar of income men earned in 2000, based on median salaries, according to Government Accountability Office statistics analyzed by Bloomberg. In 2007, the last year for which data are available, the figure was 58.8 cents. The 41-cent gap was the biggest in any of 13 industries surveyed by the GAO, and only two others had a widening disparity." [4]

Enough already!

And we say enough already not only for women, but for our children and families.  Sadly, this unequal pay is a contributing factor to why now a full 1 in 7 people in the U.S. live in poverty, [5] as well as to the fact that nearly 1 in 4 kids in our nation are experiencing food scarcity due to family economic limitations. [6]

In this tough economy, more and more families are counting on women’s earnings. Unfair pay practices make things even harder. The Paycheck Fairness Act would deter wage discrimination by closing loopholes in the Equal Pay Act and barring retaliation against workers who disclose their wages to coworkers.

But we have--right now!--an opportunity to take a giant leap forward for equal pay for equal work by increasing our pressure for the U.S. Senate to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which was already passed by the U.S. House.

Help put Paycheck Fairness on the front burner in the U.S. Senate as soon as they come back from recess:http://action.momsrising.org/go/422

Even if you've taken action before, we need you to do it again and again. November is just around the corner, and we need to increase the pressure.

And, please also take a moment now to share this blogpost with friends and family so they can take action too.

Together we have the power to make this happen!

P.S.  Have you ever experienced wage or hiring discrimination?  We're pulling together stories of MomsRising members across the nation to share with U.S. Senators.  Share your story here (and feel free to share anonymously):  http://action.momsrising.org/go/423?akid=2342.11138.dOZauY&t=8

P.P.S.  Amplify your message using 21st century media tools! Send a direct message to your senators via Twitter and post comments on their Facebook walls!

[1] U.S. Census Bureau and  NWLC: "State Wage Gap Data Show Little Or No Improvement from 2008"

[2] U.S. Government Accountability Office: "Women in Management: Analysis of Female Managers Representation, Characteristics, and Pay"

[3] The Wall Street Journal: "For Women, Pay Gap Means Retirement Shortfall"

[4] Bloomberg News: "Wall Street Says Women Worth Less as Disparity Over Pay Widens"

[5] U.S. Census Bureau: "Income, Poverty, Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2009"

[6] The Washington Post: "America's economic pain brings hunger pangs"