April 12, 2016 – Andrea Sears, Public News Service (PA)
HARRISBURG, Pa. – The gender wage gap is costing women in Pennsylvania almost $19 billion a year, according to a study released today for Equal Pay Day. Nationally, it said, women would have to work more than three months extra to earn the same amount men were paid last year.
The study by the National Partnership for Women and Families found the wage gap in Pennsylvania is in line with the national average, with women earning 79 cents for every dollar paid to men. Vicki Shabo, vice president of the partnership, said the difference really adds up.
“If the wage gap were eliminated,” she said, “an average working woman would have enough money for about one-and-a-half years worth of food, eight more months of mortgage and utilities payments, or 12 more months of rent.”
The gap is even wider for women of color, with African-American women in Pennsylvania averaging just 68 cents to every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men; Latinas only 56 cents and Asian women 81 cents. According to Shabo, national figures show that motherhood adds even more to the wage gap.
“Mothers who work full-time, year-round are paid 71 cents for every dollar paid to fathers,” she said. “For single mothers, the situation is even worse: 58 cents for every dollar paid to fathers.”
Shabo said the gaps persist despite the 1963 Equal Pay Act and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed in 2009. She said a new bill introduced in Congress would close some of the loopholes in those laws.
“The Paycheck Fairness Act would prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who discuss their wages,” she said, “and it would make it easier to prove that discrimination has occurred.”
Support for that bill is sharply divided along party lines, but Shabo said she hopes that Equal Pay Day will help raise awareness and spur Congress to action.
The report is online at nationalpartnership.org. Details of the Paycheck Fairness Act are here.
Luella Breo
Equal work should mean Equal Pay regardless of gender. An equal skill set should mean that both are paid the same without regard for gender. While men’s suits are more expensive than women’s business clothing, women are expected to wear makeup and that can be costly to a woman. Every working woman deserves the same pay as her male counterpart doing the same job. We have not lost the need for a woman to look cutsie-pie. A woman should look attractive, but not necessarily cute.