Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro this week marked “Black Women’s Equal Pay Day” as part of her 20-year effort to close the wage gap between men and women.
“Over the past twenty years, women have continued to make more and more of their family’s income across all family types, and many women have become the sole or co-breadwinner in their family,” said DeLauro, in a video posted on Facebook. “That is why when women make less money for the same work, it does not just affect them — it affects their family’s bottom line and our economy as a whole.”
The average black woman earned 63 cents on the dollar to the average white man. Put another way, the black woman would need to work an additional 214 days to earn what the average white man was paid in 2017. Doing the math, that would have made August 2 “Black Women’s Equal Pay Day.”
DeLauro says her “Paycheck Fairness Act,” which she first introduced in June 1997, would allow employees to talk openly about their pay and make it easier for employees to challenge pay discrimination. Her latest version has 199 co-sponsors, including Connecticut Representatives John Larson, Joe Courtney, Jim Himes and Elizabeth Esty. There is only one Republican co-sponsor, Chris Smith of New Jersey.
“It is long past time for paycheck fairness. Men and women in the same job should have the same pay. I will continue to fight for the Paycheck Fairness Act until it becomes the law of the land,” she said.
