Equal pay has been the law since 1963. But today, more than 40 years later, women are still paid less than men—even when women have similar education, skills and experience.

The latest available data shows women are paid 77 cents for every dollar men receive. For every $100 worth of work we do, that's $23 less to spend on groceries, housing, child care and other expenses. Nationwide, working families lose $200 billion of income annually to the wage gap.

Over a lifetime of work, the 23 cents on the dollar women are losing adds up. On average, a 25-year-old working woman will lose about $455,000 to unequal pay during her working life.

Please use the form below to urge your representative and senators to support the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 766 and H.R. 1338) and the Fair Pay Act (S. 1087).

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

Equal pay has been the law since 1963. But today, women still are paid less than men--even when women have similar education, skills and experience.

According to the most recent data, women are paid 77 cents for every dollar men receive. For every $100 worth of work we do, that's $23 less to spend on groceries, housing, child care and other expenses. Nationwide, working families lose $200 billion of income annually to the wage gap.

Over a lifetime of work, the 23 cents on the dollar women are losing adds up. On average, a 25-year-old working woman will lose about $455,000 to unequal pay during her working life.

And because women are paid less now, they have less to save for their futures, and they'll earn smaller pensions than men. Half of all women with income from a pension in 2002 received less than $5,600 per year, compared with $10,340 per year for men.

The numbers are even worse for women of color. African American women earn only 68 cents and Latinas make 57 cents for every dollar that men earn. Asian and Pacific Islander American women earn less, too. Their pay inequality is less severe than among women as a whole, but they still earned only 88 cents for every dollar that men earned in 2000, the most recent year for which data is available.

Congress should enact federal legislation strengthening current equal pay laws and expanding penalties for employers that pay female employees less than their male counterparts.

I urge you to support the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 766 and H.R. 1338), which would provide more effective remedies for victims of wage discrimination on the basis of sex, and the Fair Pay Act (S. 1087), which would prohibit sex-based wage discrimination and would address the issue of comparable worth by calling for equal pay for equivalent work.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
April 24, 2007