Maine Equal Pay Day

Each year in April we celebrate Equal Pay Day. This day in April indicates how far into each year a woman must work to earn as much as men did the previous year. Nationally this day is observed on April 19th, but in Maine, in line with Maine’s wage gap we observe the day the first Tuesday in April.

Right now, the wage gap is at about 77 cents to the dollar – which is to say that for every full dollar a male earns a women earns, on average, 77 cents. It is important to recognize that the wage gap is even wider for women of color. African American women on average only earned 68.9 percent for every dollar earned by a white male per week, and Hispanic/Latina women only 60.2 cents. Check out this IWPR report to learn more about the wage gap.

We were lucky to have Lilly Ledbetter in Maine last week (brought by the Maine Women’s Policy Center and The WAGE Project) who gave an inspiring speech about her fight for pay equity.

Support the “Paycheck Fairness Act”

The U.S. Senate must act to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 182), a bill that would strengthen the Equal Pay Act and provide the government with additional tools to enhance enforcement of equal pay laws.

More than 45 years ago, President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law, requiring employers to provide equal pay to women and men for equal work. Despite the law, the wage gap persists. Today, women in Maine make, on average, just 79 cents for every dollar earned by a man.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would help eliminate this wage gap by:

• Prohibiting employer retaliation. The Paycheck Fairness Act prohibits employers from punishing employees who share salary information.
• Improving compensation for victims by bringing Equal Pay Act remedies in line with those available to plaintiffs in other discrimination claims.
• Creating a negotiation training program for women and girls.
• Providing assistance to all businesses and recognizing employers for excellence.
• Closing loopholes by requiring employers to defend gender pay disparities by showing that differences exist for legitimate job-related reasons.
• Improving data collection by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Paycheck Fairness Act requires them to survey already-available salary data.
• Bolstering enforcement and data collection of gender-based data.

This bill passed the House in January 2009 but has not yet received a vote in the Senate. Urge your Senators to support this important legislation!

Senator Olympia Snowe

154 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20501

202-224-5344

Senator Susan Collins

413 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

202-224-2523

Representative Blodgett meeting Lilly!

Lilly sharing her story