Providing for Consideration of H.R. Paycheck Fairness Act, and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act

Floor Speech

Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida. Madam Speaker, just to follow Chairman McGovern, I thank him for his very kind words on my friend and neighbor, Alcee Hastings, who was a brilliant and forceful advocate for justice and the great senior leader of the Florida delegation. We miss him dearly.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise to support the passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act.

I have some important questions and simple answers.

First, do rent and food cost less for women than men?

The answer is no.

Do women work less hard than men?

Absolutely not.

Do children depend on the financial support of their mothers?

That answer is yes.

So should women make less money than men for doing equal work?

Obviously not.

Yet, for many reasons, women are paid an average of just 82 cents for every dollar paid to men--it is even lower for women of color--causing struggling families and eventually lower Social Security benefits and retirement savings for our grandmothers.

No wonder it is women and their children who are the majority of poor in this country.

As we emerge from a pandemic that has hit women workers the hardest, isn't it time for an economy that compensates women fairly for their work?

Of course it is.

This requires numerous actions, including making sure that women and girls have full access to healthcare, education, and financial resources; family-friendly workplaces; combating on-the-job sexual harassment and violence; making child and adult care more affordable; and raising the pay for minimum wage workers, two-thirds of whom are women.

Today, we can take a giant step toward this moral and legal imperative of closing the gender wage gap by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act and giving workers the tools to enforce the Equal Pay Act of 1963, that requires pay equity.

Isn't it time, Madam Speaker, that our mothers, daughters, and sisters get paid fairly for their hard day's work?

Of course.

That is my final question and final answer for today.

Source