[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 507 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 507

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives in support of a 
                    women's economic bill of rights.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 6, 2014

    Mr. Barber (for himself, Mr. Barrow of Georgia, Ms. Brownley of 
 California, Mrs. Bustos, Mr. Cartwright, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, 
Ms. DeLauro, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Enyart, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. 
  Hastings of Florida, Mr. Honda, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, 
 Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Ms. Kuster, Mr. Lowenthal, Ms. McCollum, Mr. George 
    Miller of California, Ms. Norton, Mr. Peters of California, Mr. 
 Perlmutter, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Ruiz, Mr. Rush, Ms. Schwartz, Ms. Sinema, 
 Mr. Swalwell of California, Ms. Titus, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. 
Vargas, and Ms. Wilson of Florida) submitted the following resolution; 
   which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives in support of a 
                    women's economic bill of rights.

Whereas equal opportunity and fairness are among the Nation's most cherished 
        tenets and are central to the Nation's economic prosperity;
Whereas women have entered the workforce in record numbers over the past 50 
        years and families increasingly rely on the wages of both men and women;
Whereas, despite the enactment of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, many women continue 
        to earn significantly lower pay than men for equal work;
Whereas, nationwide, women on average earn only 77 cents for every dollar earned 
        by men;
Whereas, on average, African-American women are paid only 64 cents and Latina 
        women are paid just 55 cents for every dollar paid to non-Hispanic White 
        men;
Whereas women represent nearly two-thirds of all minimum wage workers;
Whereas the poverty rate for women--14.5 percent--is the highest in 20 years;
Whereas, with 40 percent of working women serving as the primary breadwinners in 
        their families, pay inequality depresses the wages of working families;
Whereas women should not have to choose between earning a paycheck, having a 
        family, and caring for a loved one;
Whereas, in many families, women are the primary caregivers for children and 
        dependents, yet 39 percent of full-time workers in the private sector 
        lack access to paid sick leave and over 70 percent of low-wage workers 
        do not have a single paid sick day;
Whereas, because over 60 percent of women who gave birth in a given year also 
        worked during that time, discrimination and denial of reasonable 
        workplace accommodations threaten the success of women in the workforce;
Whereas the existence of pay disparities and workplace inequities threaten 
        women's economic security throughout their lifetimes and undermine 
        women's retirement security, which is often based on earnings while in 
        the workforce;
Whereas neither women nor men have the paid leave they need to provide care to 
        children, spouses, elders or to care for themselves, and ensuring men 
        have access to paid leave promotes gender equity in both work and in 
        caregiving;
Whereas women own 28 percent of all American firms and families and communities 
        rely upon women-owned firms for employment and wages; and
Whereas, despite the enactment of the Women's Federal Procurement Program, 
        women-owned firms continue to secure less than four percent of Federal 
        contracts losing access to billions of dollars in opportunity annually: 
        Now therefore, be it
    Resolved,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Resolution may be cited as the ``Women's Economic Bill of 
Rights Resolution of 2014''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

    It is the sense of the House of Representatives that the Congress 
should support efforts that guarantee--
            (1) pay equity, ensuring equal pay for equal work;
            (2) fair treatment in the workplace, including reasonable 
        accommodations for pregnant workers, enabling them to continue 
        working to support their families;
            (3) access to paid family and medical leave for women and 
        men;
            (4) economic and retirement security for women and men; and
            (5) fair access, for women and men, to business capital, 
        Federal contracts, and a marketplace that is conducive to small 
        business growth.
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