On Equal Pay Day, Gillibrand Fights To Ensure Women Workers Have A Fair Shot At Earning Their Financial Security

Press Release

On Equal Pay Day, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand continues her fight to ensure more working women have a fair shot at earning financial security by closing the pay gap and raising the minimum wage. Equal Pay Day marks the additional time women must work into 2014 -- for a total of more than 15 months -- to match what their male counterparts made in 2013 in just 12 months. The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on both pieces of legislation within the next month.

With more dual income households than ever before, and 40 percent of women with children at home serving as sole breadwinners, when women get held back financially by systemic impediments in the workplace, the entire middle class and American economy gets held back too. Senator Gillibrand's American Opportunity Agenda would create paid family and medical leave, increase the minimum wage, make quality affordable child care accessible, provide universal pre-k, and ensure equal pay for equal work.

"The fact is, women are increasingly the new family breadwinner. Women are the primary income earner for a growing share of homes across America," said Senator Gillibrand. "But almost two-thirds of minimum wage workers are women -- and even after working full time they are bringing home a paycheck that keeps their family below the poverty level. And today, in the year 2014, women on average earn 77 cents for every dollar a man earns -- and even less for women of color. African American women earn 69 cents on the dollar, and Latinas earn just 58 cents on that dollar. It's time to give America's women a fair shot."

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