Paycheck Fairness Act Poised to Beef Up Women’s Rights at Work

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6524/paycheck_fairness_act_poised_to_beef_up_womens_rights_at_work/

Monday October 11 10:29 am

By Michelle Chen

Washington has studiously avoided pro-labor legislation all year, but come November, the Senate may finally get around to some unfinished business for women in the workplace.

The Paycheck Fairness Act, slated for consideration after the election break, would plug critical loopholes in the 1963 Equal Pay Act and help narrow the gender wage gap. A full-time woman worker today still earns about 77 cents for every dollar a man makes overall. The gap between black and Latina women and their white male counterpart is even wider—62 and 53 cents, respectively.


President Obama, with Lilly Ledbetter (R) and Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski (L), signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009. Congress may vote on The Paycheck Fairness Act, focused on employer accountability, after the November elections. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)


The recession has further strained the wage gap: millions of families headed by single moms struggle with massive job losses, cuts to social programs, and, for those lucky enough to still have work, lower pay. Even in two-parent homes, unemployment frequently leaves women in the role of sole breadwinner. Gender discrimination trickles into the public benefits system as well, as marginal women workers often have less access than men to unemployment insurance and in their later years, retirement income.

While the Paycheck Fairness Act couldn't dismantle the superstructure of discrimination against women (see the latest Government Accountability Office report about the persistence of gender inequality at the managerial level), the legislation would beef up enforcement and create real legal remedies beyond the limited allowances for damages under the Equal Pay Act.

FULL story at link.

[JustAnotherGen]

1. I'm very involved in

Activism on this issue. . . I will hope - but I think what I'm hearing and what we are discussing is not this year. But will cross fingers - I'm thinking this is out there to mobilize women to vote.