Melanie Ross Levin, Director of Outreach

Yesterday, Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Chairman of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC), and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), former Chair of the JEC, held a press conference to discuss the gender-wage gap among low-wage and less-educated workers. The press conference highlighted a new report by the GAO entitled, "Gender Pay Differences: Progress Made but Women Overrepresented Among Low-wage Workers," which shows how much women bear the brunt of the struggle. The report showed that women are the majority of low-wage workers. On top of that, low-wage women are almost three times more likely than men to have a child in the household. And even with these wages that are virtually as low as you can go, women still make less than their male counterparts.

NWLC Co-President Marcia Greenberger spoke at the press conference and highlighted the need for Congress to address the financial security of women and their families. Here are her full remarks:

While everyone is talking about the historic win we received with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) accepting the full recommendations of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), making contraceptives available without co-pays, we shouldn’t forget the other great victories for women’s health that came with today’s decision. An equally important victory came from a little paragraph that said every breastfeeding mama or future breastfeeding mama would appreciate.