News release
Fair Pay Advocacy Campaign Launched
December 9, 2008
Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996
Out of the Way of Fair Pay Targeting U.S. Chamber of Commerce for Opposition to Federal Pay Equity Reforms
WASHINGTON, DC – The Center for American Progress Action Fund, I Am Progress, and MomsRising.org launched a new campaign today to promote fair pay for women in the workforce. Out of the Way of Fair Pay targets the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, calling on it to remove its opposition to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act, two important federal pay equity reform measures.
“The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act are important steps toward making sure that women are paid what they are worth,” said Jessica Arons, Director of the Women's Health and Rights Program at CAPAF. “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce should remove its opposition to these common-sense pay equity reforms.”
Out of the Way of Fair Pay is bolstered by a new CAPAF report, “Lifetime Losses: The Career Wage Gap,” that found that women lose on average approximately $434,000 over a 40-year period because of the gender wage gap. The report also includes breakdowns by occupation, education level, and state.
“This campaign shows how average women lose real income because of the gender wage gap. And moms, especially single moms, fare even worse,” said Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director of MomsRising. “Improving pay equity leads to greater economic security for women and their families.”
The Out of the Way of Fair Pay campaign is helping to raise awareness about pay equity and the wage gap, and in particular, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s opposition to reform efforts. The campaign features an online video with Batman, Robin, and Batgirl based on a Department of Labor public service announcement created over 30 years ago to promote the Equal Pay Act. Carrying a message that still rings true today; the video has been updated for this campaign to focus attention on Congress’s efforts to make it harder for employers who underpay women to get away with their discriminatory pay practices. A word-of-mouth social networking campaign along with a small online advertising campaign will help promote the effort. Advocates will also be lauding local chambers of commerce and individual businesses that are members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and they will use this opportunity to announce their support for these common-sense pay equity reforms.
I Am Progress is a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the sister advocacy organization of the Center for American Progress. The Action Fund transforms progressive ideas into policy through rapid response communications, legislative action, grassroots organizing and advocacy, and partnerships with other progressive leaders throughout the country and the world. The Action Fund is also the home of the Progress Report and Think Progress, the blog that pushes back daily.