April 10, marks Equal Pay Day in 2018. This is the day when the average woman’s pay ‘catches up’ to the average man’s pay from the following year. And this does not even take into account the even larger gender wage gaps for women of color.
According to research from the National Women’s Law Center, over a 40-year career, typically: Black women lose $840,040 due to the gap; Native American women lose $934,240; and Latinas typically lose more than $1 million. The loss of these resources and pay contributes to the gender wealth gap, which holds back women from having the ability to save for emergencies, invest in higher education and small businesses, or to plan for a secure retirement.
Take action this Equal Pay Day to help us advance legislation working to close the gender wage gap:
HB 138 (Smith, Boyd) – Wage Discrimination: Creates an equal pay discrimination hotline where workers could anonymously report instances of alleged wage discrimination. This bill was referred to the House Economic Development, Commerce & Labor Committee in March, but has not yet had a single hearing. Contact the Committee Chair Representative Ron Young, and urge him to hold hearings on the bill.
HB 180 (Clyde, Howse) – Equal Pay: Establishes the Ohio Equal Pay Act to create protections for closing the wage gap, such as prohibiting an employer from retaliating against employees who discuss their salaries or wages. Contact the Committee Chair Representative Louis Blessing III, and urge him to hold hearings on the bill.
HB 385 (West) – Wage Information: Prohibits a state agency from preventing employees from discussing their own wages or another employee’s wages and prohibits retaliation against an employee who has discussed wages. It also prohibits a state agency from seeking the wage or salary history of a job candidate. Many of these issues the bill addresses are the reason for gender pay discrimination and the gender wage gap. The bill was referred to the House Economic Development, Commerce & Labor Committee and has had one hearing. Contact the Committee Chairman Representative Ron Young, and urge him to hold additional hearings on the bill.
HB 403 (Howse, Kelly) – Equal Pay: Creates a Gender Pay Disparity Task Force to address pay inequality. The bill was just introduced yesterday and has not yet been assigned to a Committee. The bill was referred to the House Government Accountability & Oversight Committee, but has not yet had a hearing. Contact Committee Chairman Louis Blessing III, and urge him to hold hearings on the bill.
SB 174 (Tavares) – Wage Requirements: Enacts the Fair and Acceptable Income Required (FAIR) Act, which would update state laws to help protect against wage discrimination. It was referred to the Senate Transformation, Commerce & Workforce Committee in September, but has not yet had a single hearing.Contact the Committee Chair Representative Frank LaRose, and urge him to hold hearings on the bill.
Learn more about the gender wage gap and efforts to create equal pay from the Equal Pay Today! Campaign. And learn more about the wealth gap and the impact this has over a women’s lifetime from Closing the Women’s Wealth Gap.
