[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 47 (Tuesday, April 3, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H1392-H1393]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 WOMEN DESERVE EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Baca) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BACA. Mr. Speaker, when President John Kennedy signed the Equal 
Pay Act into law on June 10, 1963, women on the average earned 61 cents 
for each dollar earned by a man.
  Today, working women earn 73 cents for every dollar earned by a man, 
according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  President Kennedy told his fellow citizens that he was taking the 
first step in addressing the unconscionable practice of paying female 
employees less wages than male employees for the same job.
  While progress has been made, still more needs to be done. If 
Congress acts this year, more can be achieved; and I say more can be 
achieved and will be achieved if we come together.
  In my State of California, families lose a staggering $21 billion of 
income annually to the wage gap. If women in California received equal 
pay, poverty and single-mom households would go from 19.2 percent to 
9.2 percent.
  Women in the Inland Empire, for example, lose an average of $4,000 
every year because of unequal pay, and I state because of unequal pay 
they lose that much; that is $4,000. This is money that cannot buy 
groceries, housing, child care, clothing for their families, and we 
must realize how important and critical it is when someone has to 
budget their dollars based on the amount of monies that they get paid.
  I ask my colleagues to support H.R. 781, the Paycheck Fairness Act, 
and the Fair Pay Act legislation currently pending in Congress that is 
designed to help eliminate the wage gap that still exists between men 
and women.
  Many working women lack the basic benefits they need in order to care 
for their families. They are our grandmothers, our mothers, our wives, 
our sisters, our daughters, and our colleagues. They are doctors, 
lawyers, teachers, caregivers, and leaders.
  Women lawyers earn $3,000 less than a male attorney, and a lot of 
people are surprised and they think that they earn an equal amount of 
pay and they do not.
  Female doctors make $5,000 less than male colleagues.
  Wages for female nurses, where 95 percent are women, earn $30 less 
each week than male nurses who make up 5 percent. Can one imagine, only 
5 percent are male and the majority, which

[[Page H1393]]

is 95 percent female, earn less money. That is not fair.
  Waitresses' weekly earnings are $50 less than waiters' earnings.
  The situation is even worse for women of color. African American 
women earn only 67 cents and Latinos 56 cents for every dollar that men 
earn. This continues to be a disparity, and a lot of times when we look 
at our Nation and we look at the diversity that we have, all we are 
asking for is for equal pay for equal work; that African American women 
and Latinos should earn the same amount of dollars that anybody else 
should earn because they are willing to work and they are not asking 
for any special privileges. They are saying pay me for the same work 
that somebody else earns.
  The wage gap impacts women's retirement also. Women have less to save 
for the future and will earn smaller pensions than men; and when we 
look at today's society, it is no longer a man that is providing but a 
woman a lot of times is providing for the family.
  It is important that they also have that security for retirement when 
they are looking towards retirement.
  On the job, working women are looking for higher pay, better benefits 
and, most of all, the three Rs, and I state the three Rs: respect, 
recognition, and reward for a job well done. We all need a pat on the 
back, and we all need to be respected when it comes to that 
recognition.
  Half of all older women receiving a pension in 1998 got less than 
$3,486 per year compared to $7,020 per year for older men.
  Before the end of the year, let us pass this legislation to finally 
make the work of America's women valued, fair, equitable, and just. Let 
us work to bring equal pay to every woman in America, to every working 
person. They deserve it. Their families deserve it. Let us get the job 
done.

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