Pay Equity
Next Equal Pay Day:
Tuesday,
April 9, 2013
Wear RED on Equal Pay Day to symbolize how far women and minorities are "in the red" with their pay!
What is pay equity?
Pay equity is a means of eliminating sex and race discrimination in the wage-setting
system. Many women and people of color are still segregated into a small number of
jobs such as clerical, service workers, nurses and teachers. 
These jobs have historically been undervalued and continue to be underpaid to a large
extent because of the gender and race of the people who hold them. Pay equity means
that the criteria employers use to set wages must be sex- and race-neutral.
Fast Facts
• In 2005, women's median annual earnings were only $.77 for every $1.00 earned by
men. For women of color, the gap is even worse - only $.71 for African American women
and $.58 for Latinas.
• If women received the same wages as men who work the same number of hours, have
the same education and union status, are the same age, and live in the same region
of the country, then these women's annual income would rise by $4,000 and poverty
rates would be cut in half.
• Women are paid less in every occupational classification for which sufficient information
is available, according to the data analysis in over 300 job classifications provided
by the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics.
• In 1963, the year of the Equal Pay Act's passage, full-time working women were
paid 59 cents on average to the dollar received by men, while in 2005 women were paid
77 cents for every dollar received by men. In other 
words, for the last 42 years, the wage gap has only narrowed by less than half of
a penny per year.
• According to the Institute for Women's Policy Research, in 2006, Connecticut tied
with New Jersey in 6th place for the best state economies for women.
• Of the states in the US, Connecticut ranks in the top third for women in professional
and managerial occupations.
**Equal Rights Advocates offers a series of guides on "Knowing Your Rights" and a toll-free Advice and Counseling hotline at 800-839-4372 for free individualized legal advice and assistance.**
For more information, click on the links below.
* National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the largest organization of feminist activists in the United States. NOW has 500,000 contributing members and 550 chapters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
* National Committee on Pay Equity
The National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE), founded in 1979, is a coalition of women's and civil rights organizations; labor unions; religious, professional, legal, and educational associations, commissions on women, state and local pay equity coalitions and individuals working to eliminate sex- and race-based wage discrimination and to achieve pay equity.
ERA's mission has been to protect and secure equal rights and economic opportunities for women and girls through litigation and advocacy.
* Sources: National Committee on Pay Equity, National Organization for Women, and Equal Rights Advocates.