It's Equal Pay Day: Women's Wages Match Men's Earnings From 2012 Today

Today, April 9, is Equal Pay Day in the United States — the first day of the year in which women's wages equal that of men's from the prior year. That means it has taken 99 days of 2013 for females to reach pay equality with men, according to the National Committee on Pay Equity. 

Equal Pay Day was originated by the National Committee on Pay Equity in 1996 as a public awareness event to illustrate the gap between men's and women's wages. 

It's an issue important to The Greater Middletown Branch of the American Association of University Women, says Carolyn Shaw, President.

"The AAUW supports efforts at all levels of government and business to equalize the hourly wages paid to men and women. In the 21st century, the continuing wage gap is alarming: women are paid $.77 or less to each $1.00 paid to men in comparable positions. 

"This is of particular concern given the increasing number of women who are the sole support of their children," she said.

“Right here in Connecticut, women earn less than 76 cents to every dollar a man earns—for doing the same job. This wage inequity is discrimination, and it damages our economy as well as putting an added burden on households across the state,” said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

That figure, says state Sen. Dante Bartolomeo, D, 13th, is really startling. "I'm actually pretty appalled. I see no reason for it." Bartolomeo, who grew up one of two daughters on a farm, says work in her family was always equal opportunity.

"There was never a difference, at least on a farm, in the amount of work that you had to do — whether you were a girl or a boy or a woman or a man. I grew up with very supportive parents stressing that a woman could do everything that a man could do."

"It would seem to follow there there is no reason why a woman should not be paid equally for that job," Bartolomeo says.

President Obama issued a declaration of “National Equal Pay Day” for Thursday, adding that minority women find themselves in the same class, according to the Washington Times.

“That disparity is even greater for African-American women and Latinas,” Obama said. “On National Equal Pay Day, we recognize this injustice by marking how far into the new year women have to work just to make what men did in the previous one.”

State Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-CT, says the disparity goes much beyond the individual. “It threatens women and families’ financial stability. With women bringing home an increasingly bigger share of family income, smaller paychecks hurt their spouses and children, as well as the entire economy. That is why Congress needs to pass The Paycheck Fairness Act. Equal pay for equal work should not be a partisan issue; it is time for the Paycheck Fairness Act to become law.”

In January, Malloy said, he asked Commissioners Smith and Palmer to study the factors that contribute to the gender wage gap in Connecticut’s workforce and make recommendations for actions that will eliminate the wage disparity. 

“A lifetime of earning less pay not only means a smaller paycheck, but also means a retirement with less security for a woman and her family,” Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman said. “That is a fundamental economic disadvantage that is clearly unfair and needs to be dealt with so women can better support their families today and retire on equal footing with men.” 

Barbara Arafeh, Middletown AAUW second vice president and membership chair, says the group has been researching and fighting for equal pay since 1894.

"After World War II, equal pay bills were introduced in every session of Congress — some by AAUW members who were elected Representatives such as Rep. Chase Going Woodhouse (D-CT), a regular speaker at our Middletown AAUW meetings. Despite these efforts and AAUW's leadership in the National Committee for Equal Pay, it wasn't until 1963 — in the 88th Congress — that a pay equity bill finally passed both the House and the Senate and became the law of the land when President John F. Kennedy signed it — 50 years ago."

Even with the 2009 Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the protections under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights act, there have been some unfortunate revisions, Arafeh says. This January, a failed Paycheck Fairness Act was reintroduced in both chambers of the new Congress by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D- MD) and Rep. Rose DeLauro (D-CT).  

According to a study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, the weekly earnings of female full-time wage and salary workers compared to those of their male colleagues were 81 percent nationally and only 75.8 percent in Connecticut.

What do you think? Are women in your workplace paid the same as males? Will legislation effect change? Tell us in the comments below.