WORKING WOMEN

Vol. 8, No. 2
April, 1999



	WORKING WOMEN Clinton Seeks Funds to Close Wage Gap President Clinton has allocated $14 million in his proposed fiscal 2000 budget to triple the number of enforcement officers at the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, provide technical help to employers on compliance with equal pay laws and alert working women to their rights. Although the federal Equal Pay Act has been on the books since 1963 when John Kennedy was president, working women have struggled to attain pay equity with men with only limited success. Back in the early 1960s, women earned about 58 cents for every dollar a man earned; today, it's closer to 75 cents. The President has also asked Congress to pass a Paycheck Fairness Act, which would allow women to sue employers for unlimited compensatory and punitive damages if they were victims of wage discrimination. Report Shows Gender Gap in Pay, Benefits Because women are not paid the same wages as men for work of equal value, working families lose $200 billion a year. This is one of many shocking figures disclosed in a new study, "Equal Pay for Working Families: National and State Data on the Pay Gap and Its Costs." The study provides numbers to show the extent of the disparity between the wages of men and women workers. On a national average, women earn $431 a week, compared with $579. On a yearly basis, the wage gap translates to more than $7,500. Minority women do even more poorly, earning an average of only $369 a week. Pay equity has become the most pressing issue for working women. Among the 50,000 women who responded to the 1997 AFL-CIO survey, "Ask a Working Woman," 94 percent rated the need for equal pay as "most important." The issue has come to the forefront because working families are depending more on women's earnings to put food on the table and pay the bills. Two-earner families have become the norm in the United States, while more than two out of every three mothers are in the work force. The need for equal pay is especially important to single mothers who have to support their families on their own. Twenty years ago, a woman earned 63 cents for every dollar a man earned. Today, the figure is 74 cents. However, the decline in men's wages, not the increase in women's pay, has been a factor in the modest progress in closing the wage gap. Offering a vision of what equal pay would mean to the nation's families, the report states: • Single mothers would earn $4,459 more a year, cutting their poverty rate in half, from 25.3 percent to 12.6 percent. • Married women would earn $4,259 more a year, and poverty among their families would fall from 2.1 percent to 0.8 percent. • Single working women who live alone would earn an average of $4,151 more a year; the poverty rate for these women would drop from 6.3 percent to 1 percent. Unions Play An Important Role Unions make a difference because most of them comply with a traditional principle of equal pay for equal work, while raising wages for all workers through contracts that can be legally enforced. Unions have made significant progress in organizing women to improve their wages and working conditions; they also bargain and lobby for their special needs. The new report shows that union women earn $568 a week, one-third better than the pay of non-union women, whose average weekly wage is $411. AFL-CIO Pushes Pay Equity in 24 States The AFL-CIO Working Women's Department has prepared model equal pay legislation, which it plans to introduce in as many as 24 state legislatures this year. The state-by-state campaign will be a grassroots effort, sparked by coalitions of union activists with community and women's groups. The AFL-CIO pay equity model would prohibit employers from establishing pay scales that discriminate against women in equivalent jobs with male employees. It would also protect workers from being fired or harassed for advocating equal pay standards. State and local union leaders can use or modify the AFL-CIO model to suit their particular needs. On the federal level, the Working Women's Department is rallying public support for the Paycheck Fairness Act, which strengthens existing equal pay laws, and the Fair Pay Act, which expands the definition of equal pay to work of equal value.

WORKING WOMEN

Clinton Seeks Funds to Close Wage Gap

President Clinton has allocated $14 million in his proposed fiscal 2000 budget to triple the number of enforcement officers at the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, provide technical help to employers on compliance with equal pay laws and alert working women to their rights.

Although the federal Equal Pay Act has been on the books since 1963 when John Kennedy was president, working women have struggled to attain pay equity with men with only limited success. Back in the early 1960s, women earned about 58 cents for every dollar a man earned; today, it's closer to 75 cents.

The President has also asked Congress to pass a Paycheck Fairness Act, which would allow women to sue employers for unlimited compensatory and punitive damages if they were victims of wage discrimination.

Report Shows Gender Gap in Pay, Benefits

Because women are not paid the same wages as men for work of equal value, working families lose $200 billion a year. This is one of many shocking figures disclosed in a new study, "Equal Pay for Working Families: National and State Data on the Pay Gap and Its Costs."

The study provides numbers to show the extent of the disparity between the wages of men and women workers. On a national average, women earn $431 a week, compared with $579. On a yearly basis, the wage gap translates to more than $7,500. Minority women do even more poorly, earning an average of only $369 a week.

Pay equity has become the most pressing issue for working women. Among the 50,000 women who responded to the 1997 AFL-CIO survey, "Ask a Working Woman," 94 percent rated the need for equal pay as "most important." The issue has come to the forefront because working families are depending more on women's earnings to put food on the table and pay the bills. Two-earner families have become the norm in the United States, while more than two out of every three mothers are in the work force. The need for equal pay is especially important to single mothers who have to support their families on their own.

Twenty years ago, a woman earned 63 cents for every dollar a man earned. Today, the figure is 74 cents. However, the decline in men's wages, not the increase in women's pay, has been a factor in the modest progress in closing the wage gap. Offering a vision of what equal pay would mean to the nation's families, the report states:

• Single mothers would earn $4,459 more a year, cutting their poverty rate in half, from 25.3 percent to 12.6 percent.

• Married women would earn $4,259 more a year, and poverty among their families would fall from 2.1 percent to 0.8 percent.

• Single working women who live alone would earn an average of $4,151 more a year; the poverty rate for these women would drop from 6.3 percent to 1 percent.

Unions Play An Important Role

Unions make a difference because most of them comply with a traditional principle of equal pay for equal work, while raising wages for all workers through contracts that can be legally enforced. Unions have made significant progress in organizing women to improve their wages and working conditions; they also bargain and lobby for their special needs.

The new report shows that union women earn $568 a week, one-third better than the pay of non-union women, whose average weekly wage is $411.

AFL-CIO Pushes Pay Equity in 24 States

The AFL-CIO Working Women's Department has prepared model equal pay legislation, which it plans to introduce in as many as 24 state legislatures this year. The state-by-state campaign will be a grassroots effort, sparked by coalitions of union activists with community and women's groups.

The AFL-CIO pay equity model would prohibit employers from establishing pay scales that discriminate against women in equivalent jobs with male employees. It would also protect workers from being fired or harassed for advocating equal pay standards. State and local union leaders can use or modify the AFL-CIO model to suit their particular needs.

On the federal level, the Working Women's Department is rallying public support for the Paycheck Fairness Act, which strengthens existing equal pay laws, and the Fair Pay Act, which expands the definition of equal pay to work of equal value.

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