NWPC Supports Equal Pay for Equal Work

Facts:

Recent figures show that full time, year round working women earn only 72 cents for each dollar a man earns. The picture is even worse for women of color: according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the figures were 65 cents for African-American women and 52 cents for Hispanic women. Pay discrepancies cross virtually all occupations and are not limited to lower-level jobs.

According to the AFL-CIO, America’s working families lose, on average, more than $4,000 per year because of unequal pay, even after accounting for differences in education, age, location and number of hours worked. Based on this analysis, over a lifetime of work, the average 25-year old woman who works full time can expect to earn $523,000 less than the average working man.

Four decades after passage of the Equal Pay Act, which prohibits paying wages based on sex, and Title VII, which outlaws discriminatory employment practices, we still have a long way to go to achieve genuine pay equity between the sexes.

How NWPC Acts:

NWPC recognizes that women cannot achieve full political equality as long as they face economic discrimination and it endorses women candidates who support equal pay for equal work.

NWPC, along with the AFL-CIO and the National Committee on Pay Equity, participated in a year-long campaign to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act to toughen penalties for equal pay violations and step up enforcement.

NWPC also actively encourages women to seek employment in traditionally male occupations that generally pay more than traditional female occupations.

How you can act:

Educate yourself about current laws that mandate equal pay.

Vote for political leaders who advocate for stronger laws and ensure that the EEOC and federal and state compliance programs receive adequate funding.

Encourage the companies you work for or in which you invest to conduct surveys and comparison studies regularly to ascertain and correct pay discrepancies and their causes.

As you advance in your career, be sure that those who follow you are treated fairly.