WASHINGTON – AAUW is kicking off the new year with a new pay equity public awareness campaign called Keep the Change until Women Have Real Change — a timely message to lawmakers who are expected to vote this week on important legislation that would help women challenge pay discrimination.
Developed in response to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which shows that the wage gap between men and women has narrowed by just one cent, AAUW's Keep the Change message will appear on signs and stickers and in e-communications to legislators and the public.
"The new Congress has a mandate to address pay equity," said AAUW Executive Director Linda D. Hallman, CAE. "Women sent a clear message to Washington in the last election; it's time to close the wage gap."
Women on average make 78 cents to every dollar earned by a man. While this is the narrowest the wage gap has been, it's only one more cent on the dollar than the previous year's figure.
"AAUW calls that chump change, not real change," said Hallman. "Our Keep the Change campaign will engage members and coalition partners across the country in urging Congress and the new administration to make pay equity a priority."
As a part of the campaign, AAUW is urging the swift passage of both the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act, which are expected to come up for a vote in the House this week.
"Together, the bills can help create a climate in which pay discrimination is not tolerated and give the new administration the enforcement tools it needs to make real progress on pay equity," said Lisa M. Maatz, AAUW director of public policy and government relations.
The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act would address the U.S. Supreme Court's problematic decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., restoring the long-standing interpretation of civil rights laws and EEOC policies that allowed employees to challenge any discriminatory paycheck they received.
The Paycheck Fairness Act would provide additional tools to deter wage discrimination by closing loopholes in the Equal Pay Act, as well as prohibiting retaliation against workers who disclose their wages or ask about an employer's wage practices.
AAUW has long been a leader in the pay equity fight. AAUW published its first research on equal pay in 1913 and, as early as 1922, AAUW's legislative program called for a reclassification of the U.S. Civil Service and for a repeal of salary restrictions in the Department of Labor's Women's Bureau. In 2007, AAUW released research that showed that just one year out of college, women working full time already earn less than their male colleagues, even when they work in the same field. Ten years after graduation, the pay gap widens.
To read more about AAUW's Keep the Change campaign, go to http://www.aauw.org/advocacy/issue_advocacy/actionpages/payequity.cfm
