Friend --

Imagine working 9am-5pm, but you went unpaid for your work after 2:40pm every day.

That’s the reality for women across the country. Today is Equal Pay Day and it makes the gender wage disparity clear. On average, women would have to work all of last year until today just to earn what men did in 2020. For years Mitch McConnell and his GOP colleagues ignored the gender wage gap and refused to do anything to fix it.

Now that I’m in charge of the Senate, it’s time to close the wage gap once and for all. I’ve long supported the Paycheck Fairness Act and today, on Equal Pay Day, I’m renewing my support and asking you to join me: Will you add your name next to mine to support our efforts to guarantee equal pay for women?

Today, women who work full time, year-round are paid an average of 82 cents for every dollar paid to men, resulting in a gap of $10,157 each year. And it’s worse for women of color: On average, Latinas are typically paid 55 cents, Native American women 60 cents, Black women 63 cents, and Asian American and Pacific Islander women are paid as little as 52 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. White, non-Hispanic women are paid 79 cents, for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would help to close the gaps experienced by women across the country by eliminating loopholes in the Equal Pay Act, helping to break harmful patterns of pay discrimination and strengthening workplace protections for women. 

And American families can’t afford to wait: Women’s wages are key to their families’ economic security. Mothers are primary or sole breadwinners in over half of U.S. households with children. And of the nearly 8.2 million households headed by women -- including more than six million with children -- nearly one-quarter have incomes that fall below the poverty level. 

We passed key provisions in the American Rescue Plan to combat child poverty and lift families out of poverty, but closing the wage gap is an incredibly important step toward continuing that work. Women’s participation in the workforce has dropped already to 57% due to the pandemic -- the lowest level since 1988 -- and if it continues, it will be the sharpest decline since World War II. 

We have to act, and we have to act soon: In honor of Equal Pay Day, will you add your name in support of the Paycheck Fairness Act to level the playing field for women across the country?

Sincerely,

Chuck Schumer