26 April 2006

Reid Statement On Equal Pay Day

Washington, DC

April 25, 2006 is Equal Pay Day this year, the annual day designed to highlight the wage gap between women and men that still persists in America today. The day is observed in April to mark how far into each year a woman must work to earn as much as a man earned the previous year, and observed on a Tuesday to mark the day women’s wages finally catch up to men’s wages from the previous week.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid today issued the following statement on this unfortunate anniversary. “Each year on Equal Pay Day, we are confronted by the gap that still exists between what women and men are paid for working in America today. It’s an embarrassment, but today in our country women still earn only 76 cents for every dollar earned by men. African American women earn 60 cents for ever dollar men earn. For Hispanic women it’s 50 cents.“This wage gap doesn’t just affect women—it hurts children and punishes whole families. It means hard-working mothers can’t support their families or give their children the opportunities they deserve. In some cases it means the difference between making ends meet and just making it through the month.

“Democrats believe America can do better. We’re committed to closing the pay gap, to guaranteeing that women’s contribution to the labor force is fully and fairly recognized, and to ensuring that someday we will never need to mark the sad day again.”

HELL YEAH!

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