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Statement

The Wage Gap Is Hurting Moms, Women, Families and All of Us Every Day. When Will Lawmakers Do Something about It?

March 15, 2022
Equal Pay

Lisa Lederer, 202/371-1996

Statement of leaders of MomsRising, the online and on-the-ground organization of more than one million mothers and their families, on Equal Pay Day, the day that marks how far women in the United States must work in 2022 to catch up to what men were paid in 2021:

“It’s discriminatory. Unfair. Harmful. Yet year after year, we mark Equal Pay Day because the wage gap that punishes women and moms persists. Why? Because Congress refuses to pass the solutions our country needs.

 “Today is Equal Pay Day 2022, the day that marks how far into 2022 women in the United States had to work to match the wages paid to men in 2021. In our country today, women are paid just 83 cents for every dollar paid to white men, and moms are paid just 75 cents for every dollar paid to white dads. The wage gap for Black, Indigenous and other women and moms of color is even worse. We know the policies that will close the wage gap and make pay fair in this country: the Paycheck Fairness Act; the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act; a $15 federal minimum wage; and creating a care infrastructure that includes investments in child care, a national paid leave program so people can take time off when they have children, become seriously ill, or need to care for a seriously ill family member, earned sick days for all, and affordable home- and community-based care for seniors and people with disabilities. We’ve waited for much too long. Congress must get it done.”

-Statement of Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director and CEO, MomsRising

“It’s shameful that, for every dollar paid to white fathers in this country, moms are paid just 75 cents – and Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander moms just 90 cents, white moms just 71 cents, Black moms just 53 cents, Native American moms just 50 cents, and Latina moms just 46 cents. The wage gap makes it harder for moms to put food on the table and gas in their cars, to afford quality child care and health care, to pay the rent and clothe their kids. It hurts families, communities, and our economy.

“We need policies that root out discrimination and address occupational segregation while building a care infrastructure, now. America’s moms won’t stop fighting until the wage gap is a relic of the past, equal opportunity is real, and we achieve gender and racial equality in all workplaces and communities.”

-Statement of Sara Alcid, Senior Campaign Director, Workplace Justice, MomsRising

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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.