Hi John,

Today is Equal Pay Day—but it’s not a day for celebration. Why? Because women have to work until March 12, 2024, just to earn what a man made in 2023. Women are paid 78 cents for every dollar paid to men nationally, adding up to more than $11,000 a year.

Sadly, little progress has been made to close this gender wage gap, but that can change.

First, Congress must pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. This important bill would help close the wage gap in a few different ways by:

Making it unlawful to prohibit employees from talking about their wages.
Increasing penalties for violating the equal pay provision.
Directing the Department of Labor to provide training for negotiating compensation and working conditions.

Other important steps include raising the minimum wage, investing in paid leave, child care and other community services, and ensuring reproductive health care.

It’s long past time. Women should get equal pay for equal work. If you agree, will you take two minutes to make a call to your members of Congress to support the Paycheck Fairness Act?

Call Now

The gender wage gap is even worse for women of color and women with disabilities. Here is the full list of upcoming Equal Pay Days (or how long it took for these women to earn the same as what a man earned in 2023) from the American Association of University Women:

Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Women’s Equal Pay Day—April 3
LGBTQ+ Equal Pay Awareness Day—June 13
Black Women’s Equal Pay Day—July 9
Moms’ Equal Pay Day—Aug. 7
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Women’s Equal Pay Day—Aug. 28
Latina Equal Pay Day—Oct. 3
Native Women’s Equal Pay Day—Nov. 21

As a nation, we must do better. Thank you for making a call on behalf of all women.

The second path to women’s pay parity runs right through the labor movement.

Unions empower women, and when more women have access to a union, we can close the wage gap and strengthen our economy. In fact, women in unions earn nearly 22% more in wages than nonunion women.

Thankfully, unionization is on the rise. Last year, 500,000 workers were on strike and nearly 1 million got double-digit wage increases through collective bargaining agreements. When unions win, working people win. Let’s close the pay gap and make sure we don’t need any more equal pay days.

In Solidarity,

Team AFL-CIO