Lujan: Equal Pay Day Highlights Gender Pay-gap; Reminds Us of Importance of Paycheck Fairness Act

Statement

Congressman Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico's Third District today marked Equal Pay Day -- the date, more than three months into the year, when women's wages finally catch up to what men where paid last year. Women working full-time, year-round continue to earn on average 79 cents for every dollar earned by a man working the same job.

Luján is a cosponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would provide effective solutions and protections for women who are not being paid equal wages for doing equal work. The bill, which has faced stiff opposition from Congressional Republicans, strengthens and closes loopholes in the 1963 Equal Pay Act, including providing effective remedies to women who are not being paid equal pay for equal work.

"Equal pay for equal work is not just a slogan, it is the foundation for the health, growth, and prosperity of our families and our economy," said Congressman Luján. "The pay gap strikes at every New Mexican families' ability to put food on the table, send a child to college, or buy a home. At the current rate that the gap has been closing, women won't reach pay equity with men until 2058. As long as hard-working women make less for the same work, we must fight to pass this important legislation."

In New Mexico, women earn 78 cents for every dollar that a man does, slightly below the national average. Further, the wage gap is wider for Latinas and African American women. Latinas make 55 cents for every dollar earned by a white, non-Hispanic man and African American women make 60 cents.

"Today we also celebrate the designation of a new national monument, the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument," Luján added. "This action by President Obama will preserve the house that served as the headquarters for the effort to secure women's suffrage and equal rights. It will serve as a reminder of the strides that have been made, while inspiring us to continue the fight for equality."

The Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument, named after activist and suffragist Alva Belmont and Alice Paul, founder the National Women's Party, will protect the house that served as the Party's headquarters since 1929 and preserve the extensive archival collection that documents the movement for women's equality, including the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women's suffrage.

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