The U.S. Senate failed to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 3772) in a cloture vote on Wednesday, November 17, 2010 preventing consideration of the bill and creating uproar among supporters.
The vote was clearly split with Democrats voting 56:1 in favor -- and Republicans 1:40 against. Oklahoma Representatives Tom Coburn and James Inhofe voted against.
S. 3772 cites the gap in pay is “in significant part, because the Equal Pay Act of 1963 has not worked as Congress originally intended.” The bill provides “improvements and modifications” to the Equal Pay Act. S. 3772 can be read in full by visiting the Paycheck Fairness Act.
U.S. Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, had this information to offer in her Huffington Post Blog, “Despite decades of efforts since 1963, the wage gap has narrowed from 59 cents for each dollar a man makes to a still unbelievably paltry 77 cents in 2010. It is equally shocking that the gap has closed only five cents in the past 20 years. At that pace, it will take almost 100 more years for women to achieve pay equity. The situation is even worse for women of color. In fact, today, African-American women make 69 cents for every dollar made by a man. Latinas make just 60 cents.”
However disheartening these statistics may seem, there is a flip-side to the coin.
Independent Research Corporation, CONSAD, lists various factors contributing to the gender wage gap in a final report for the US Department of Labor Employment Standards Administration. “Many relate to differences in the choices and behavior of women and men in balancing their work, personal, and family lives… The report demonstrates that it is not possible now, and doubtless will never be possible, to determine reliably whether any portion of the observed gender wage gap is not attributable to factors that compensate women and men differently on socially acceptable bases, and hence can confidently be attributed to overt discrimination against women.”
Votes by Representatives can be viewed at www.govtrack.us.
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