Income gender gap | Be a Seed for Change

Happy Equal Pay Day! I know what you’re thinking: it’s hard to feel too happy when we face the facts about the wage gap these days. Did you realize that the average woman loses $10,849 a year due to the wage gap?

But we do have something worth celebrating this Equal Pay Day. The Paycheck Fairness Act is being introduced in both Houses of Congress today!

Ask your Members of Congress to co-sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act in honor of Equal Pay Day!

In the last session of Congress, we worked hard to get the Paycheck Fairness Act passed in the House and this important bill fell just a few votes short of moving forward in the Senate. We couldn’t have done it without people like you who helped tell Congress that Women Are Not WorthLess. Now we need your help again!

Take action and ask your Member of Congress to co-sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act now!

On Equal Pay Day, we recognize the day that the average woman’s wages finally catch up to those of her male counterparts in 2010. With the Paycheck Fairness Act, we can start to close that wage gap and Stop Discounting Women and their families. Will you take action today?

Thank you for all your support and, again, happy Equal Pay Day!

Sincerely

Fatima Goss Graves

Vice President for Education and Employment

National Women’s Law Center

P.S. We’ve put together some great new resources in honor of Equal Pay Day. Be sure to check out our new factsheets on pay secrecy, the “factors other than sex” loophole in the Equal Pay Act and how the Paycheck Fairness Act resolves it, an update on the Lilly Ledbetter Act and the wage gap’s implications for women in this economy. And in other fair-pay news, don’t forget to vote in the last round of Wal-Mart Manager Madness!

A Big Step for Paycheck Fairness

We need the Senate to pass Paycheck Fairness quickly once they return. Tell your Senators: Women Are Not WorthLess!

We’ve reached an important moment in the Stop Discounting Women campaign — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has filed a cloture petition on the Paycheck Fairness Act — which is Washington-DC-speak for preparing a bill for a vote.

This is a huge opportunity for us. We started the campaign with the rallying cry “Women Are Not WorthLess” to bring attention to the 23% wage gap women face compared to their male counterparts. Our first goal was to help pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. And now, thanks to your support, the bill is not only set up for a vote, but it could be one of the first votes the Senate takes when it returns in November!

We need your help to make sure your Senators know that this bill is ripe for a vote when they come back and we need them to pass Paycheck Fairness quickly upon their return. Take action today by sending a quick e-mail message to your Senators.

In this tough economy, more and more families are counting on women’s earnings. Unfair pay practices make things even harder. The Paycheck Fairness Act would deter wage discrimination by closing loopholes in the Equal Pay Act and barring retaliation against workers who disclose their wages to coworkers.

Tell your Senators loud and clear that Women Are Not WorthLess.

Even if you have taken action before, we need you to do it again and again. November is just around the corner, and we need to keep the pressure on.

Thank you so much for all of your work.