By U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham
Mothers, grandmothers, sisters, cousins, or aunts shouldn’t have to wait any longer for equal pay.
Wage discrimination based on gender has been a priority of mine in Congress since the moment I took office, because we have a responsibility to ensure economic security for millions of women in this country. But I am frustrated that we still haven’t done enough to make sure women in this country have equal pay for equal work.
Today marks the seventh year anniversary of The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, an incredible step forward that empowered women to fight back against wage discrimination. I would be lying though if I said that this legislation, while important, was enough to close the wage gap.
For example, the average Hispanic women working full time in New Mexico earns nearly $24,000 a year less than the average White, non-Hispanic man. That’s just 55 cents on the dollar.
The goods new is that there is legislation we could advance right now in Congress to help empower millions of women to close the wage gap. I am a co-sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which gives women the tools they need to fight wage discrimination. For example, this law would stop employers from retaliating against workers who share wage information, force employers to justify why someone is paid less for the same work, and train women in ways to better negotiate their wages.
Those provisions would dramatically change the landscape of this problem, and give women a fighting chance to close the wage gap over the next decade.
Now, I need your help to continue working on closing the pay gap and fixing an economy that is rigged against women and working families. Can you make a contribution of $10, or whatever you can afford, to support my re-election campaign this week?
As a group, women in New Mexico lose approximately $2,312,502,965 every year because of wage discrimination. If we eliminated the wage gap, a working New Mexican woman would have earned enough for:
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63 additional weeks of food
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Seven more months of mortgage and utility payments
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2,445 additional gallons of gas
This is why we have to give women a fighting chance to end wage discrimination. Families throughout New Mexico are stretched too thin in this economy for women to be unfairly paid less than their male counterparts. It is time we come together, Democrats and Republicans, to make wage discrimination a thing of the past.
Make a contribution today, so I can continue to fight wage discrimination in Congress.
