The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team is shining a light on this country’s equal pay problem
It’s 2019, and women still make just 80 cents to every dollar made by white, non-Hispanic men. It’s even worse for most women of color.
In this year’s World Cup, the international spotlight is on equal pay and the women who are demanding it. The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, which is currently dominating the World Cup while the men’s team failed to even qualify last year, is currently involved in a lawsuit to secure pay equity with their male counterparts. Their efforts are bringing attention to this pervasive issue that impacts women of all demographic groups and in nearly every industry.
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- It’s even worse for women of color: For every $1 white, non-Hispanic men make, Asian American and Pacific Islander women make $0.85, black women make $0.61, Native women make $0.58, and Latina women make $0.53.
- House Democrats’ Paycheck Fairness Act is a key first step to closing the gender wage gap. It would strengthen existing laws to protect workers from retaliation for discussing pay, ban the use of salary history in hiring processes, increase accountability and transparency, and “require employers to prove that any pay disparities between men and women are…not sex-based.”
- Equal pay is an important 2020 issue: As the Democratic presidential candidates travel the country and appear on the national stage, we hope to hear robust plans to close the gender wage gap. Some candidates have already rolled out proposals to do just that, and we need to see more. Women’s economic security depends on it.