New Congress Expected to Give More Attention to Work-Life Balance Issues

by Sima Matthes (New York City)

Would it shock you to discover that you’re earning about $400,000 less than you should?

Although a recent report from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University indicated that women who break the glass ceiling earn more than their male counterparts, the wage gap only narrowed by a single penny between 2006 and 2007. Women earned 78 cents on the dollar—up from 77 cents in 2006—for every dollar men earned that year. See the study here.. Black women earn only 62 cents on the dollar; Latinas only 53 cents. Add it all up and women are earning an average of $400,000 less over their lifetimes.

According to the American Association for University Women (AAUW)’s Executive Director, Linda Hallman, all those pennies add up to “chump change.” The AAUW put pay equity at the top of their legislative agenda for the 111th Congress, which they shared at a media briefing earlier this week.

AAUW recently launched a new campaign—“Keep the Change”—telling Congress to keep working until there is real change in wage equity. The AAUW is calling on the 111th Congress to pass both the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (S. 181/H.R.11) and the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 12) early this year. The measures have both passed in the House, but remain on hold in the Senate.

According to the AAUW website, the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act “…rights the wrongs done by the Supreme Court, regaining ground we’ve lost and ensuring that people who’ve been discriminated against can seek vindication.” This legislation would help assure equal pay for equal work by giving employees who believe they are victims of wage discrimination 180 days from receiving the alleged discriminatory paycheck to sue their employers.

The Paycheck Fairness Act stiffens penalties for employers whose administrative practices regarding salareies are found to be discriminatory. It also expands on the Equal Pay Act and Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. It allows employees to share their salary information with collegues without fear of losing their jobs. It would also require salaries for jobs within certain classes to be disclosed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and prevent employers from lowering salaries of some workers in order to pay others fairly.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, who introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act, joined Ms. Hallman at the briefing. Congresswoman DeLauro stated “Women account for nearly half the workforce and are feeling the effects of the faltering economy with particular force and poignancy. It is an economy in crisis and it is coming crashing down on women. Incomes for women–headed households are down by 2-3% since 2000. Unmarried women—that is, single, divorced, widowed or separated—have an average household income that’s almost $12,000 lower than unmarried men…[t]his is not [only] a women’s issue; it’s a family issue. It’s time to make it a national priority and part of our national discourse.”

The AAUW is also “working to help make sure people can get the education and skills they need to compete.” People laid off in the last months of 2008 that are reassessing their career goals and considering further education may be excited to hear that the Higher Education Act (HEA) was reauthorized. Additionally, the AAUW is advocating for “critical” additional funding for campus-based childcare centers to help the increasing number of parents returning to school balance their work-life responsibilities.

The AAUW and Rep. DeLauro also called on Congress and the incoming President to pass the Healthy Families Act which will require that workers receive a minimum of 7 paid sick days “as a modicum of relief so parents no longer have to choose between their health, their child’s health and their job.” The Congresswoman stated, “nearly half of workers—48%—don’t have a single paid sick day to recover from common illnesses like a cold or the flu…[s]taying home is not an option for 94 million working people who do not have paid sick days to care for sick children or family members.”

American households increasingly rely on a woman’s paycheck to make ends meet: the median contribution of a woman to her household was 35.1% of the total in 2005. Half of women are in jobs without retirement plans (which likely includes women who are parenting or taking care of family members full time).

In an increasingly competitive business environment, investing in women and families makes sense. It is an economic stimulus package that can only enrich the long-term growth and economic security of our companies and our country.

“We feel like that this is a key moment in history [and] in terms of the economic situation in this country where pay equity needs to be fully addressed” said Ms. Maatz. “The Ledbetter bill is critical, but it’s only a downpayment; it only gets us part of the way down the field. If we truly want to address pay equity, we need Congresswoman DeLauro’s Paycheck Fairness Act. That is the bill that moves the ball forward and really creates a level playing field for women.”