The latest Census statistics show that the gap between men’s and women’s earnings widened slightly between 2007 and 2008, from 78 percent to 77 percent. Based on the median earnings of full-time, year-round workers, women’s earnings were $35,745 and men’s earnings were $46,367. The National Committee on Pay Equity’s The Wage Gap states that there has been little change in this century in the wage gap between men and women.
This change could be framed as statistically insignificant; still, it shows the wage gap widening rather than narrowing, with women’s wages at best stagnant relative to men’s. A fact sheet from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, The Gender Wage Gap 2008, has additional information, including a graph showing the wage gap as computed with both weekly wages and annual wages.
WomenNetworking in Southern Delaware, Inc. has been a consistant and active supporter of federal legislation to help close the wage gap. The Paycheck Fairness Act, passed in the House and has been pending in the Senate (S.182) since President Obama was sworn in. This legislation is an attempt to strengthen current laws against wage discrimination and require the federal government to be more proactive in preventing and battling wage discrimination.
The Paycheck Fairness Act also would close a significant loophole in the Equal Pay Act to allow for full compensation for sex-based wage discrimination. We are part of a broad coalition of groups working to pass this bill, and we are asking individuals to contact their U.S. Senators to ask them to take an active and leadership role in getting this legislation to the President’s desk for his signature before the end of this calendar year. Contact Senator Ted Kaufman and thank him for signing on early as a sponsor of women and paycheck fairness.
Senator Thomas R. Carper is not a listed sponsor of this important legislation that affects more than 54 percent of the citizens of Delaware. Contact his office and ask him to become an active supporter of women’s pay equity and use his influence to make this legislation a reality. It has languished in bowels of the Senate for too long; it’s time to get it moving.
