[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 399 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 399

To direct the Secretary of Labor to make a grant to a public university 
  to establish the Center for the Study of Women and Workplace Policy.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 9, 2009

  Mr. Dingell (for himself and Mrs. Maloney) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Secretary of Labor to make a grant to a public university 
  to establish the Center for the Study of Women and Workplace Policy.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) According to a 2003 Government Accountability Office 
        report, even after accounting for factors such as occupation, 
        industry, race, marital status, job tenure, and differing work 
        patterns, all of which affect earnings, women are paid, on 
        average, 80 cents compared to every dollar that men are paid.
            (2) According to the same report, the earnings gap between 
        men and women has persisted without statistically significant 
        changes for the past two decades.
            (3) According to a 2001 report by the Bureau of Labor 
        Statistics, the earnings gap among working men and women is 
        widest among parents.
            (4) Some women choose to trade advancing in their careers 
        or higher earnings for a job offering the flexibility to manage 
        family responsibilities alongside work.
            (5) According to a 2001 Government Accountability Office 
        study, in 1995 and 2000, female full-time managers earned less 
        than their male counterparts.
            (6) According to the same study, in 7 of the 10 industries 
        studied, the earnings gap between female and male full-time 
        managers actually widened between 1995 and 2000.
            (7) Women make up 46 percent of the workforce but represent 
        just 12 percent of all corporate officers.
            (8) A reason for the continuing earnings disparity might be 
        discrimination as to which roles are considered acceptable for 
        men and women and how women are viewed in the workplace.
            (9) According to the February 2004 Monthly Labor Review of 
        the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Department of Labor 
        projects that the United States work force is growing at a rate 
        of 1 percent per year, in part due to the continually increased 
        presence of women.

SEC. 2. CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF WOMEN AND WORKPLACE POLICY.

    (a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Labor shall make a grant to an 
eligible university to establish the ``Center for the Study of Women 
and Workplace Policy'' (referred to in this Act as the ``Center'').
    (b) Use of Funds.--
            (1) Compilation and analysis of data.--The Center 
        established under subsection (a) shall compile and analyze 
        available data and data sets on the difference between the 
        earnings of men and women, including the Panel Study of Income 
        Dynamics housed at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and 
        to identify factors which affect differences in earnings.
            (2) Dissemination of findings.--The Center shall--
                    (A) disseminate its findings annually to the 
                public, using a website and any other appropriate 
                means; and
                    (B) maintain a website to serve as a clearinghouse 
                for the data and findings of relevant recent studies.
            (3) Best practices guides.--Each year, the Center shall 
        publish one best practices guide, as follows:
                    (A) Best practices guide for businesses.--Not later 
                than one year after the Center is established under 
                subsection (a), the Center shall publish a best 
                practices guide for businesses containing recommended 
                guidelines for--
                            (i) workplace equity;
                            (ii) retaining women in the workplace; and
                            (iii) promoting a family-friendly 
                        workplace.
                    (B) Best practices guide for families.--Not later 
                than one year after the publication of the best 
                practices guide for businesses under subparagraph (A), 
                the Center shall publish a best practices guide for 
                families, containing information about--
                            (i) the policies of various employers 
                        relating to workplace equity, retaining women 
                        in the workplace, and promoting a family-
                        friendly workplace;
                            (ii) strategies for addressing inequity in 
                        the workplace; and
                            (iii) recent findings on inequity in the 
                        workplace.
                    (C) Subsequent editions.--The Center shall update, 
                revise, and publish a subsequent edition of each of the 
                best practices guides under subparagraphs (A) and (B) 
                once every two years after the initial publication of 
                each guide.
    (c) Eligible University.--In this Act, the term ``eligible 
university'' means a public university--
            (1) with a school of public policy, a school of business, a 
        center devoted to the education of women, and social research 
        facilities;
            (2) at which research is conducted on--
                    (A) gender differences and levels of achievement in 
                the careers of faculty members employed by institutions 
                of higher education;
                    (B) work experiences of non-tenure-track faculty 
                members employed by such institutions;
                    (C) policies of such institutions with respect to 
                work and family for tenure-track faculty members; and
                    (D) the number of women employed as chief executive 
                officers and directors at large publicly held 
                companies; and
            (3) which has designed or is in the process of designing a 
        national clearinghouse for information concerning gender 
        differences and levels of achievement in the careers of faculty 
        members and work and family policies and issues affecting 
        faculty members which includes citations to research and 
        examples of relevant policies and practices.
    (d) Report.--Not later than 12 months after receiving a grant under 
this Act, the recipient shall submit to the Secretary and to Congress a 
report documenting how the university used the grant funds and 
evaluating the level of success of the Center funded by the grant.
    (e) Amount of Grant.--For each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014, 
the Secretary shall provide a grant in the amount of $1,000,000 to an 
eligible university to carry out this Act.
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