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Statement

On Native American Women’s Equal Pay Day, MomsRising Urges Passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act

September 15, 2016
Equal Pay

Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996

STATEMENT OF KRISTIN ROWE-FINKBEINER, Executive Director & CEO of MomsRising.org, On Native American Women’s Equal Pay Day
“In April, we marked Equal Pay Day, the day that symbolizes when women, on average had finally earned the same amount as men had during the 2015 calendar year. But that one day doesn't tell the whole story. In June we marked "Moms' Equal Pay Day" and in late August we marked "Black Women's Equal Pay Day." Today we're marking Native American Women’s Equal Pay Day (and Latinas' Equal Pay Day comes weeks later from now). The truth is we're tired of marking all of these days and we look forward to the day when we no longer need to shine a light on the women and mothers' wage gap.
 
“It is more than 50 years after the Equal Pay Act became law, and while women as a group earn an average of 79 cents to every dollar white men earn, the wage gap for Native American women is even greater – only 58 cents for every dollar their white male counterparts earn. That results in an annual loss of $23,356 and a 40-year career loss of $934,240. A Native American woman has to work more than 69 years to earn what a white, non-Hispanic man makes in 40. Moreover, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Studies, Native American women saw the largest wage declines of women of any racial or ethnic group. And the news is even more dire for Native American moms. Maternal status is now a greater predictor of wage and hiring discrimination than gender.
 
“This doesn’t just hurt Native American women and their families, it hurts our economy. Today, moms are often the primary or only breadwinner and they make most of the purchases for their families. When they get short shrift on their paychecks, they curtail their purchases and that affects our consumer-driven economy.
 
“We need a multi-pronged approach to close the wage gap. That includes ensuring that all workers have access to paid sick days and paid family leave, and to affordable child care. We need to raise the minimum wage so that employees working full-time don’t live in poverty. And we need legislation that prevents wage discrimination based on gender, like the Paycheck Fairness Act.
 
“Studies show that advancing forward family economic security policies like these do indeed close the wage gap while improving the bottom line for businesses and boosting our local and national economies.”
 

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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.