BIDEN Issues Statement on Equal Pay Day
April 22, 2008
Washington, DC – Twelve years ago, Equal Pay Day was established by the National Committee on Pay Equity to expose the unfair gap between men's and women's wages. Today, women still earn on average 77 cents for every dollar a man earns performing the same work. Democratic Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) issued the following statement in observance of Equal Pay Day, April 22, 2008:
“It is true that America has come a long way since the Equal Pay Act of 1963 was signed into law. Yet, we observe Equal Pay Day in the month of April because a woman typically has to work nearly four months longer than a man just to earn what he did in one year. This is simply not fair. And with a record 70.2 million women in the workforce, this wage discrimination hurts American families across the country.
“In the coming days, the Senate has an opportunity to take a step toward correcting this injustice by passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007, as our colleagues in the House did earlier this year. It is time to put aside partisan politics and uphold this country’s longstanding commitment to equal rights – including the principle that equal work should yield equal pay.”
