WOMEN’S RIGHTS — PAY GAP DEPRIVES WOMEN OF $434,000 IN LIFETIME EARNINGS:

 A new Center for American Progress Action Fund report by Jessica Arons finds that the career pay gap — the difference between the median wages of full-time working men and women over a 40 year period — deprives women of an average of $434,000 over the course of their working lives. A woman typically makes 78 cents for every dollar earned by a man doing similar work — a gap that widens over time. The pay gap persists across all income and education levels; in fact, women with the most education lose the most comparatively in earnings. Arons notes that women with a college degree or higher lose $713,000 over a 40-year period, versus $270,000 lost for women who do not finish high school. The pay gap is the widest in finance and management careers, and narrowest in construction and maintenance. As Arons writes, “The career pay gap represents an outrageous, unacceptable, and unjustifiable loss to women and their families, as well as to our economy.” Congress can do something to close the gap by passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would make it easier for women to be compensated for pay discrimination and give employers incentives to close the pay gap. I Am Progress released a video encouraging Congress to act. Watch it and sign a petition telling the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to stop blocking pay equity.

www.thingprogress.org