NWLC Report Highlights Barriers that Reinforce the Wage Gap and Solutions to Close It, on 50th Anniversary of Equal Pay Act

(Washington, D.C.) On the 50^th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) today released a policy report outlining the barriers to achieving fair pay and practical steps to close it. Although women have narrowed the gap by 18 cents over the past five decades, 50 Years and Counting:  The Unfinished Business of Achieving Fair Pay points out that the wage gap has remained stagnant at twenty-three cents for the past decade.  Women make up nearly half the labor force and over 40 percent of primary breadwinners, but their paychecks lag far behind men’s.  A woman who works full time, year round is typically paid only 77 cents for every dollar paid to her male counterpart—a pay gap that translated to $11,084 in lost wages in 2011.  And for women of color, the lost wages are even worse. African-American women working full time, year-round are typically paid only 64 cents, and Hispanic women are typically paid only 55 cents, for each dollar paid to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts.  These gaps resulted in a loss of $18,817 for African-American women and $23,298 for Hispanic women in 2011.   

“For women and their families, the wage gap is not a statistic,” said NWLC Co-President Marcia D. Greenberger. “It means a smaller paycheck week after week, year after year that forces many women and families to go without basic necessities.  And for African-American and Hispanic women, the gap is even worse.  At a time when families are relying increasingly on women’s wages, policymakers need to do the right thing and close the gap now.”

The report highlights the persistent barriers to closing the wage gap, including discrimination against women in the same job; the underrepresentation of women in higher-paying jobs that are often dominated by men, like electricians, police officers, architects and engineers; the overrepresentation of women in low-paying jobs like home health aide, child care provider and nursing home worker; and  discrimination against women based on their actual or perceived family responsibilities.

The report outlines practical policy solutions to close the wage gap:

• Strengthen equal pay laws by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act so that women have the tools to fight back against pay discrimination. This includes prohibiting companies from retaliating against employees for discussing their pay with coworkers; closing major loopholes in the employer defenses to equal pay claims; lifting arbitrary limits on damages for equal pay claims; and removing barriers to women’s ability to come together as a class to challenge pay discrimination.
• Build ladders to higher wage jobs for women by removing barriers to entry into male-dominated fields. The federal government should put in place policies to hold states accountable for women’s and girls’ participation in job training programs and courses that are nontraditional for their gender.
• Lift up the wages of women in low-wage jobs by raising the minimum wage and the tipped minimum wage. Since two-thirds of workers paid the federal minimum wage or less are women, raising the minimum wage and the tipped minimum wage will help close the wage gap. 
• Adopt 21^st century workplace policies like paid sick days and paid family leave and enforce existing protections for women in the workplace against discrimination on the basis of pregnancy and caregiving.

Today, the Center also joined fourteen other groups to launch the Equal Pay Today! campaign which calls for action to end the gender wage gap.  

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For more NWLC analysis of the wage gap and women’s economic status:

• The Wage Gap, State by State
• Explaining the wage gap
• Closing the wage gap is crucial for women of color and their families
• How the wage gap hurts women and families
• The Wage Gap Over Time