[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 4817-4818]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             EQUAL PAY DAY

  (Mr. DELANEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DELANEY. Mr. Speaker, last year almost 58 percent of college 
graduates were women, and women now account for over half of the 
college-educated population. In corporate America, women were 53 
percent of new hires last year, and women account for 50 percent of 
jobs held by college-educated individuals. This is all very good news.
  Yet, when you look at advancement, we see another story emerging. It 
is estimated that when people are promoted to managers in corporations, 
only 37 percent of them are women. When promotions to vice presidents 
are made, only 26 percent are women.
  This is a talent drain. This is not only a big problem for women, but 
it's a big problem for our economy. It limits diversity of ideas, which 
limits productivity.
  The gender gap hurts U.S. competitiveness by creating management 
structures that don't reflect the views of 50 percent of the 
population. It hurts families because women are economic anchors in the 
majority of families.
  Fifty-three percent of working women are primary breadwinners, and 15 
million households are headed by women. We're creating an economic 
burden. The gender gap and wage gap is not reflective of the kind of 
society we want to live in. We need to reverse both institutional and 
individual mindsets that limit the progress of women.

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