January 29, 2013
Harkin Floor Statement on Introduction of the Fair Pay Act
WASHINGTON--Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, spoke on the floor of the Senate to reintroduce the Fair Pay Act on the fourth anniversary of the enactment of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
Below is the full text of Harkin's statement, as prepared for delivery:
"On January 29, 2009, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. That critical law, the first legislation signed into law by President Obama, reversed the outrageous Supreme Court decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear and made clear that a worker like Lilly Ledbetter, who does not learn of pay inequalities for years, still has recourse to challenge wage discrimination.
"Today, we celebrate enactment of this important law. But, at the same time, we must recognize that it was only a first step. We need to do much more to ensure that all workers in our society are paid fairly for their work and are not shortchanged because of their gender, race, or other personal characteristic.
"That is why, four years after enactment of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, I am proud to introduce the Fair Pay Act, a bill I have introduced in every Congress since 1996.
"In 1963, Congress enacted the Equal Pay Act to end unfair discrimination against women in the workforce. At that time, 25 million female workers earned just 60 percent of the average pay for men. While we have made progress toward the goal of true pay equity, fully a half century later, too many women still do not get paid what men do for the same or nearly the same work. On average, a woman makes only 77 cents for every dollar that a man makes. That translates into an average of $400,000 over her lifetime that a woman loses because of unequal pay practices.
"This is wrong, it is unjust, and it threatens the economic security of our families. The fact is millions of American families are dependent on a woman’s pay-check just to get by, to put food on the table, pay for child care, and deal with rising health care bills. In today’s economy, few families have a stay-at-home mother. In fact, 71 percent of mothers are in the labor force. And they are major contributors to their families’ income. Two-thirds of mothers bring home at least a quarter of their family's earnings. In more than four of 10 families with children, a woman is the majority or sole breadwinner.
"That means in today’s economy, when a mother earns less than her male colleagues, her family often must sacrifice basic necessities as well as face greater difficulty in affording a home or saving for college, and otherwise living the American Dream. And, the lifetime of earnings losses that all women face, including those women without children or whose children are grown up, affects not only their wellbeing during their working lives, but their ability to save for a decent retirement.
"The evidence shows that discrimination accounts for much of the pay gap. In fact, according to one study, 41 percent of the wage gap cannot be explained by work related characteristics, like experience and educational attainment.
"Our laws have not done enough to prevent this discrimination from occurring. That is why passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was a critical first step, and why it is important to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. That bill was introduced last week by Senator Mikulski, and I am a proud original cosponsor. There are too many loopholes and barriers to effective enforcement in our existing laws. We need to strengthen penalties and give women the tools they need to confront discrimination.
"It is outrageous that the Senate has not yet passed the Paycheck Fairness Act. In the last two Congresses, this bill got more than majority support. In 2010, 58 United States Senators, a large majority, voted to support this legislation. But, because of Republican obstructionism, we could not even proceed to debate the bill.
"Since we just went through a debate on rules reform, I want the American people to understand this. Republicans – the minority party – have continuously prevented the United States Senate from even considering the issue of unequal wages and gender discrimination. Millions of women and their families are concerned about the fact that they get paid less than their male colleagues. Nevertheless, repeatedly, Republicans have filibustered even a debate on this issue.
"Strengthening our existing laws by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act is the next step towards wage equality. But, it cannot be the last. We must recognize that the problem of unequal pay goes beyond gender-based discrimination in the same job. As a nation, we unjustly devalue jobs traditionally performed by women, even when they require comparable skills to jobs traditionally performed by men.
"Today, millions of female-dominated jobs – for example, social workers, teachers, child care workers and nurses – are equivalent in skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions to male dominated jobs. But, the female-dominated jobs pay significantly less. This is inexplicable.
"Why is a housekeeper worth less than a janitor? Eighty-nine percent of maids are female; 67 percent of janitors are male. While the jobs are equivalent, the median weekly earnings for a maid is $387; for a janitor $463. Computer support workers – a job that is 72 percent male – have median weekly earnings of $949. In contrast, secretaries and administrative assistants -- which is 96 percent female– have median weekly earnings of $659. Why do we value someone who helps with computers more than someone who makes an entire office function? This is not to say men are overpaid. It is to say that jobs we consider “women’s work” are underpaid.
"To address this more subtle, deep-rooted discrimination, today I introduce the Fair Pay Act, a bill I have introduced, along with Congresswoman Norton, every year since 1996. The bill will ensure that employers provide equal pay for jobs that are equivalent in skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions.
"Passage of my bill will make a real difference. In 1982, Minnesota implemented a pay equity plan for its state employees. The state found that women were segregated into historically female dominated jobs, and that women’s jobs paid 20 percent less than male- dominated jobs. Pay equity wage adjustments were phased in over four years, leading to an average pay increase of $200 per month for women in female-dominated jobs. The wage gap closed by approximately nine percent.
"And, in my home state of Iowa, in 1983, the Iowa state legislature passed a bill stipulating that the state shall not discriminate in compensation between predominately male and female jobs deemed to be of comparable worth. Toward that end, the state engaged a professional accounting firm to evaluate the “value” of 800 job classifications in state government. The final recommendations, made in April 1984, proposed that 10,751 employees should be given a pay increase. Implemented in March 1985, female employees’ pay was increased at that time by about 1.5%.
"For the women in this country who are currently being paid less not because of their skills or education but simply because they are in undervalued 'female' jobs, making sure they receive their real worth would make a huge difference for them and the families that rely on their wages.
"My bill would also require employers to publicly disclose their job categories and their pay scales, without requiring specific information on individual employees. If we give women information about what their male colleagues are earning, they can insist on a better deal for themselves in the workplace.
"Right now, women who believe they are the victim of pay discrimination must file a lawsuit and endure a drawn-out legal discovery process to find out whether they make less than the man working beside them. With pay statistics readily available, this expensive process could be avoided.
"In fact, I once asked Lilly Ledbetter: if the Fair Pay Act had been law, would it have averted her wage discrimination case? She made clear that had she had the information about pay scales that the bill provides, this would have given her the information she needed to insist on being paid a fair salary from the beginning, rather than having to resort to litigation years after the discrimination began.
"Four years after President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, let us make sure that what happened to Lilly never happens again by recommitting ourselves to eliminating discrimination in the workplace and making equal pay for equal work a reality. America's working women and the families that rely on them deserve fairness on the job."