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Statement

Moms Group Praises President Obama’s Actions on Equal Pay

January 29, 2016
Equal Pay

Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996

Earlier today, President Obama instructed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to work with the Department of Labor to require large companies to report pay data on race, gender and ethnicity in an effort to uncover disparities in pay that are not based on performance.  
 
In reaction to the news, Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director and CEO of MomsRising.org, issued the following statement:
 
"Today - on the seventh anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act - women and mothers across the country stand with President Obama in the ongoing fight for equal pay. The EEOC's new rule requiring large companies to report pay data on gender, race and ethnicity will help break down barriers that leave too many Americans shortchanged at work.
 
“The reality is that women now make up more than half the U.S. workforce, and moms are the primary or co-breadwinners in three-quarters of America's households. Shockingly, being a mother is now a greater predictor of wage and hiring discrimination than gender alone. When companies pay women less - roughly 79 cents for every dollar men earn, and even less for moms and for women of color - they hurt America's families and the economy. In fact studies show that our GDP would increase by 3% with pay parity.
 
“The new EEOC measures are an important step forward. But our work isn’t done. Congress must take action on the bipartisan Paycheck Fairness Act to help ensure that employers pay all their employees based on performance, not gender.”
 

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MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.