April 8 is Equal Pay Day

Today is Equal Pay Day. That means it is the date on which the wages paid to American women catch up to the wages paid to men from the previous year. Councilmembers Cherri Branson and Nancy Navarro joined me, along with representatives from the Montgomery County chapter of the National Organization for Women, to highlight this pay inequity.

Even though the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act passed more than 40 years ago, women continue to suffer the consequences of inequitable pay differentials. In fact, year-round, full-time working women in 2012 earned only 77% of the earnings of year-round, full-time working men. Women earn less in every occupational classification for which enough data is available, including occupations dominated by women. Over a working lifetime, this wage disparity costs the average American woman and her family an estimated $700,000 to $2 million in lost wages, impacting Social Security benefits and pensions.

Today we all wore red to symbolize that women are still in the red when it comes to pay equity and to emphasize that fair pay strengthens the security of families today and eases future retirement costs, while enhancing the American economy.