[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13341]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   DEGRADATION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker and distinguished 
Members of Congress present, I come before you to celebrate the 
millions of working American women who are blazing a bright path for 
young women to successfully contribute to the American economy and, 
most importantly, to the future of our Nation. Women are the backbone 
of America's homes and of America's economy. Our presence and career 
fields such as science, business, and politics, has only brought 
improvement to these areas where women have traditionally been 
underrepresented.
  Though women have made tremendous gains in closing the gender gap in 
the workplace in the past, the current status of women in the workplace 
has become stagnant and on a decline.
  Instead of full and equal pay, women are still hitting the glass 
ceiling. In the year 2002, data from the AFL/CIO stated that women are 
paid 77 cents for every dollar men received.

                              {time}  1845

  Of course, before that it was 76. Nationwide, working families lose 
$200 billion of income annually to the wage gap. In addition to loss of 
wages, working American women have experienced a loss of jobs during 
the last 3 years. Following the 2001 recession, women workers lost over 
300,000 jobs between the start of the recession and March of 2004. The 
2001 recession marked the only period of sustained job loss for women 
in the last 40 years in the United States.
  With startling facts like these, I ask, What is this administration 
doing to ensure equality in the workplace for working American women? 
Mr. Speaker, I am sorry to report that this administration has taken 
regressive actions to address the problems facing women in the 
workplace.
  The Bush administration has made 25 publications on the Department of 
Labor's Women's Bureau Web site unavailable. This administration has 
disbanded and underfunded government offices that were established to 
address women, such as the Office of Women's Initiatives and Outreach 
in the White House and the President's Interagency Council on Women.
  Mr. Speaker, these actions are really unacceptable, and Congress 
should lead the charge for procuring equality for women in the 
workplace by writing and passing bills that call for equal pay of both 
men and women employees for equal work, restoring the funding to 
government offices dedicated to women issues and reinstating the 
publications that have been removed from the Department of Labor's Web 
site regarding women in the workplace.
  In the future, the majority of the workplace will continue to be 
female. What is this saying to our young people?
  The Bush administration prides itself on being a champion of the 
economy and an administration that has taken action to stimulate our 
economy with tax cuts. However, this administration has failed to 
include women in this process for stimulating the economy. Women are 51 
percent of the population in our country and growing, and over half of 
the working population is not being utilized to contribute to the 
growth of the American economy.
  I urge my colleagues to take a stand against the degradation of the 
status of women in the workplace of this Bush administration.

                          ____________________