118 HCON 97 IH: Recognizing the significance of equal pay and the disparity between wages paid to men and women. U.S. House of Representatives 2024-03-12 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

118th CONGRESS2d Session

H. CON. RES. 97

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

March 12, 2024

Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida (for herself, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Ms. Leger Fernandez, Ms. Adams, Mr. Allred, Mr. Amo, Ms. Balint, Ms. Barragán, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Bowman, Mr. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Ms. Brown, Ms. Brownley, Ms. Budzinski, Ms. Bush, Ms. Caraveo, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. Cárdenas, Mr. Carson, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Case, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr. Castro of Texas, Ms. Chu, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Costa, Ms. Crockett, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania, Ms. DeGette, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Deluzio, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mrs. Dingell, Ms. Escobar, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Evans, Mr. Foster, Mr. Frost, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. García of Illinois, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Mr. Goldman of New York, Mr. Gomez, Mr. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Mr. Gottheimer, Mr. Green of Texas, Mr. Grijalva, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Horsford, Ms. Houlahan, Ms. Hoyle of Oregon, Mr. Ivey, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Jackson of North Carolina, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Ms. Jacobs, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Keating, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Khanna, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Kim of New Jersey, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Kuster, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Ms. Lee of California, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Ms. Lee of Nevada, Mr. Lieu, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Magaziner, Ms. Matsui, Ms. McClellan, Ms. McCollum, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Meng, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Morelle, Mr. Moskowitz, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Mullin, Mr. Nadler, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Neal, Ms. Norton, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Omar, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Pappas, Mr. Payne, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Peters, Ms. Pettersen, Mr. Phillips, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Pressley, Mr. Quigley, Mrs. Ramirez, Mr. Raskin, Ms. Ross, Mr. Ryan, Mr. Sablan, Ms. Salinas, Ms. Sánchez, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Schneider, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Ms. Sewell, Ms. Sherrill, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Soto, Ms. Stansbury, Mr. Stanton, Ms. Stevens, Ms. Strickland, Mr. Swalwell, Mrs. Sykes, Mr. Takano, Mr. Thanedar, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Ms. Titus, Ms. Tokuda, Mr. Tonko, Mrs. Torres of California, Mrs. Trahan, Mr. Trone, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Velázquez, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms. Wexton, Ms. Wild, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Davis of North Carolina, and Mr. Connolly) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Recognizing the significance of equal pay and the disparity between wages paid to men and women.

Whereas section 6(d) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(d)) prohibits discrimination in compensation for equal work on the basis of sex;Whereas title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.) prohibits discrimination in compensation because of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex;Whereas, more than 6 decades after the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (29 U.S.C. 206 note), Census Bureau data show that women working full time, year round are paid an average of 84 cents for every dollar paid to all men, while Latinas are paid 57 cents, American Indian and Alaska Native women are paid 59 cents, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women are paid 66 cents, African-American women are paid 69 cents, White, non-Hispanic women are paid 80 cents, and Asian-American women are paid 99 cents, for every dollar paid to White, non-Hispanic men;Whereas March 12, 2024, is Equal Pay Day, marking the day that symbolizes how long into 2024 women must work to make what men were paid in 2023;Whereas April 3, 2024, is observed as Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Women’s Equal Pay Day; July 9, 2024, is observed as Black Women’s Equal Pay Day; August 28, 2024, is observed as Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Women’s Equal Pay Day; October 3, 2024, is observed as Latinas’ Equal Pay Day; and November 21, 2024, is observed as Native Women’s Equal Pay Day;Whereas LGBTQI+ women and women with disabilities may face further pay disparities;Whereas, if current trends continue, Asian women are projected to close the gender pay gap for all workers, including part-time, full-time, and seasonal workers, in 23 years, White women in 43 years, Black women in 121 years, and Latinas in 187 years;Whereas the disparity in median annual earnings for women and men working full time, year round is $9,990, which can add up to nearly $400,000 over a career;Whereas women’s median earnings are less than men’s at every level of academic achievement, with women with less than a high school diploma earning 72 percent of men’s earnings, and women with a professional degree earning 73 percent of men’s earnings at the same level of education;Whereas women are often paid less than men with lower levels of education, with women with associate’s degrees paid less than men with a high school diploma, and women with master’s degrees paid less than men with bachelor’s degrees;Whereas, in the United States, mothers working full time typically are paid 75 percent of what fathers are paid;Whereas the gender wage gap collectively costs women employed full time in the United States more than $965,000,000,000 in annual lost wages, so that families have less money to spend on goods and services that help drive economic growth;Whereas, if the annual gender wage gap were eliminated for just 1 year, on average, a working woman in the United States would have enough money for approximately 11 months of childcare, nearly 8 additional months of rent, more than 5 additional months of mortgage and utilities payments, 2 semesters of tuition and fees for a 4-year public university or the full cost of tuition and fees for attending a 2-year college, more than 6 additional months of premiums for employer-based health insurance, more than 55 weeks of food, or enough money to pay off student loan debt in just under 5 years;Whereas women hold nearly two-thirds of the Nation’s outstanding student loan debt, totaling over $929,000,000,000, and are less likely to be able to pay off their student loan debt promptly due to wage disparities;Whereas the wage gap impacts women’s ability to save for retirement and women’s total Social Security and pension benefits, and older women are more likely than men to live in poverty;Whereas sex-based wage differentials reduce family incomes and contribute to the higher poverty rates among women and their families;Whereas a wage gap exists in nearly every occupational field, but opening traditionally male-dominated jobs to women and reducing occupational segregation by sex increases earnings for women;Whereas nearly two-thirds of workers paid the minimum wage or less are women, and the concentration of women in low-wage jobs is a significant contributor to the wage gap;Whereas the gender wage gap between union women and men is about two-thirds the size of the wage gap between nonunion women and men, and women union members typically earn $191 more per week than women who are not represented by unions;Whereas two-thirds of private sector workers report that employers either prohibit or discourage them from discussing their pay, which can keep the existence of pay discrimination hidden and prevent remedying that discrimination;Whereas the lack of family friendly policies, such as access to affordable, quality childcare, paid family and medical leave, paid sick days, and fair and predictable work schedules, forces many caregivers to choose between providing for their families financially and ensuring their loved ones receive quality care, and contributes to the wage gap;Whereas 1 in 3 women have been on the receiving end of sexual harassment during their careers, and an estimated 87 to 94 percent of those who experience sexual harassment never file a formal complaint;Whereas workplace harassment forces many women to leave their occupation or industry, or pass up opportunities for advancement, and this contributes to the gender wage gap;Whereas equal pay strengthens the economic security of families and enhances retirement savings;Whereas, when women are paid fairly, families are stronger, businesses prosper, and American values and the economy are strengthened;Whereas, if women in the United States received equal pay comparable with men, poverty for working women would be reduced by more than 40 percent, and the economy would add $541,000,000,000 in wage and salary income annually; andWhereas numerous national organizations have designated Tuesday, March 12, 2024, as Equal Pay Day to represent the additional time that women must work to compensate for the average 16-percent lower wages paid to women working full time, year round last year: Now, therefore, be it

That Congress—(1)recognizes the disparity between wages paid to women and men and its impact on women, families, and the Nation; and(2)reaffirms its commitment to supporting equal pay and to narrowing the gender wage gap.