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Statement

STATEMENT OF KRISTIN ROWE-FINKBEINER, CEO and Executive Director, MomsRising.org, On the Paycheck Fairness Act and the 50th Anniversary of the Equal Pay Act

June 6, 2013
Equal Pay

Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996

“The Paycheck Fairness Act Is Crucial to Family Economic Security”
“June 10 will mark the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s signing of the Equal Pay Act. That law was intended to ensure that women would get paid the same amount as men for the same job. Fifty years ago, most mothers didn’t work outside the home for pay. Today, a new poll shows that in two out of five households with children under the age of 18, moms are the primary breadwinners. And child care costs are skyrocketing.
 
“Despite these modern realities, on average, women today earn only 77 cents to a man's dollar. That disparity is even greater for moms, single moms and women of color.  In fact, one study found that moms make only 73 cents to a man's dollar and single moms make only about 60 cents to a man's dollar.  Women of color experience increased wage hits on top of that.
 
“We need the Paycheck Fairness Act to help realize the promise of the Equal Pay Act. By penalizing employers for equal pay violations, prohibiting retaliation against employees who ask about wage practices, empowering women to negotiate for equal pay and strengthening equal pay laws, the Paycheck Fairness Act could help bring all employers into the 21st Century.
 
“Women are now half of the entire paid labor force and three-quarters of mom are in the labor force, yet wage and hiring discrimination is still the norm. The Paycheck Fairness Act is crucial to family economic security, especially with women increasingly becoming primary breadwinners.
 
“It’s long past time to right the wrong of wage discrimination, which not only devalues women's important contributions in workplaces, but also negatively affects our overall economy.”
 

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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.