Conyers Marks Equal Pay Day

Urges Passage of Equal Pay for Women through the Paycheck Fairness Act

U.S. Representative
John Conyers, Jr.

(WASHINGTON) – Today, Members of Congress are participating in Equal Pay Day, highlighting the disparity of women earning only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2013. April 9^th is the symbolic date on which a woman’s wages catch up to what a man would earn in a previous year, in a comparable field of employment. In acknowledging Equal Pay Day, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) released this statement:

“Today I join my colleagues in Congress in marking Equal Pay Day, a day that symbolizes when the average woman will have worked an additional amount in 2013 to make up for the difference between her salary and the salary of her male colleagues in 2012,” said Conyers.

“Today stands as a reminder that, despite the many advances working women have made in our country, significant barriers to equality in the workplace continue to endure. April 9^th is the 99^th day of the year, symbolizing how women all across our country must devote 99 extra days a year to work if they want to be treated as equals. Our mothers must spend 99 extra days away from their children to be treated equal to our fathers, and our daughters must spend 99 extra days to catch up to our sons. In addition, according to a new report from the American Association of University Women, the women in the 13^th Congressional District of Michigan earn only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, mirroring the national average.

“These figures are simply unacceptable. For this reason, I urge my colleagues to sign on to H.R. 377, the ‘Paycheck Fairness Act,’ legislation that provides American women with real guarantees of equal pay for equal work, by strengthening and closing loopholes in the nearly 50 year old Equal Pay Act.

“Now more than ever, many middle-class families depend upon female earners to put food on the table and roofs over children's heads. It is time to provide women in this country with the legal protections they need to finally end the discrimination that they see in their paychecks, and finally guarantee the rights that women have had in name only.”

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