Press Releases

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23) released the following statement on National Equal Pay Day:

Today is National Equal Pay Day, the date that marks how far into the next year a woman must work just to earn the same wages a man earned in the previous year. A full-time working woman still makes only 82 cents for every dollar earned by men. For women of color, it is far worse: Hispanic and Black women earn just 53 cents and 61 cents, respectively, for every dollar white men earn. At this rate, American women will suffer wage inequality until 2058.

Given the current crisis, this inequality gap will take a deeper toll on families as women are the sole or co-breadwinner in two thirds of all households with children. That means less food on the table, and smaller college savings and retirement accounts for working families. Even in female-dominated professions – many of them on the COVID-19 front lines – it is nurses, psychiatric and home health aides and grocery store cashiers who feel this gap. And with more people to care for, the ‘second shift’ of looking after the sick will ultimately fall heavier on women. The time for gender pay parity is needed now more than ever.

But we can address this inequity. Last year, House Democrats passed the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would provide legal remedies to millions of women who receive unjust wages. It is already illegal under the Equal Pay Act, to pay women lower wages for the same work performed by their male counterparts. Now we need the Senate to help put some teeth behind the law. The Senate must send this long overdue legislation to the President so that we can finally remove this date from our calendars.