The fight for equal pay goes far beyond soccer
It’s another day in Trump’s America—and another day to stand up for what’s right. Get the facts to fight back.
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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- Pay discrimination is already illegal under the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but the wage gap persists today. On average, an American woman loses $10,000 annually to the gender wage gap.
- 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.
- Women are the backbone of the economy, and most new jobs being filled by women are in industries with larger-than-average gender wage gaps.
- 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.”
- Senate Republicans are obstructing progress: House Democrats (and seven House Republicans) passed the Paycheck Fairness Act in March. Now, McConnell’s Republican Senate refuses to do their part.
- Trump is against closing the pay gap: SHOCKER. Trump’s administration tried to sabotage a plan to close the wage gap earlier this year, until a federal judge stepped in.
- 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.
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