Mom Advocate Praises Recommendations to Strengthen and Enforce Equal Pay Laws, Urges Rapid Implementation

STATEMENT OF Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner,Executive Director, MomsRising

On the Recommendations Of the Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force

July 20, 2010

CONTACT: Gretchen Wright, 202/371-1999

Mom Advocate Praises Recommendations to Strengthen and Enforce Equal Pay Laws, Urges Rapid Implementation

"MomsRising and moms across the country today are hopeful that federal agencies and the U.S. Congress will act quickly to implement the recommendations developed by the National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force and announced today by the Vice President’s White House Middle-Class Task Force and the White House Council on Women and Girls.

“Women make up nearly half the workforce and some 80 percent of women will be moms by the time they’re in their forties. It’s time moms truly got a fair deal in the workplace. The Task Force’s recommendations will go a long way to making that happen.

“Today’s workplace policies are still decades behind the realities of the lives of working parents. Too many women – especially moms who more frequently experience wage discrimination – are not earning wages that compare to their equally situated male colleagues. On average, women working full time year-round make 77 cents to a man’s dollar, mothers make 73 cents to a man’s dollar, and women of color experience increased wage hits. Too many employers find it easy to discriminate against moms not only when it comes to pay, but also in hiring and promotions. And too many employees don’t really know what their rights are with regard to stopping workplace discrimination.

“Passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which the Task Force today encouraged, could be an important step in making change, as would a better understanding of the private workforce’s pay structures.

“MomsRising also applauds the White House’s effort to start a national dialogue about workplace flexibility and to encourage communities to come together to make changes.

“Moms work and they work hard. Three-quarters of mothers are in the contemporary labor force. Every day, we hear from members who are trying to do their best by their employers and their families but find it a struggle. Today they got the message that someone has heard their voices and will work alongside them to help align our workplaces and our pay with the reality of modern family life.”

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MomsRising.org is an online and on-the-ground grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to achieve economic security for all families in the United States. MomsRising is working for paid family leave, flexible work options, affordable child care, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes so many mothers. MomsRising also advocates for health care for all, toxic-free environments, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families. In 2010, Forbes.com named MomsRising's web site as one of the “Top 100 Websites For Women.”