[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 57 (Thursday, April 19, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E604]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             EQUAL PAY DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 19, 2012

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, held every April, Equal Pay Day signifies 
the point in the year that a woman must work to earn what a man made in 
the previous year. Only in April will a woman finally earn what a man 
has made.
  In my own state of New York, women make 83 cents for every dollar 
earned by their male counterparts. According to a report by the 
National Partnership for Women & Families, full-time working women in 
New York lose approximately $24,257,741,976 each year due to the wage 
gap. The national average is even worse: on average, women in the 
United States earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by male coworkers.
  Though the Equal Pay Act was signed into law in 1963, when women 
earned 59 cents for every dollar earned by men, it is nearly 50 years 
later and women STILL aren't being paid equally.
  The work women do matters--women make up nearly half of the labor 
force and mothers are the primary earners or co-earners in two-thirds 
of all families. Equal pay isn't merely a women's issue--when women 
don't earn fair pay, the families that rely on their wages struggle. 
Families increasingly rely on women's wages to make ends meet. In 
typical married households, women's incomes accounted for 36 percent of 
total family income in 2008, up from 29 percent in 1983.
  This Equal Pay Day, I recognize the many achievements and 
contributions of women across the country to our economy and pledge to 
work towards economic equality for women, to a time when women can 
finally receive the wages they have worked for and rightfully earned.

                          ____________________