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PAYCHECK FAIRNESS ACT
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speech of
HON. BETTY McCOLLUM
of minnesota
in the house of representatives
Thursday, April 15, 2021
Ms. McCOLLUM. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 7).
I am a proud cosponsor of this legislation which seeks to end the wage gap once and for all. Women in America, especially women of color, make far less than their male counterparts. While we have made progress closing this gap in recent years, this past year has the potential to set this movement back by decades.
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected women. Unstable childcare and disruptions to school schedules have forced millions of mothers to leave the workforce. Additionally, women disproportionately work lower wage hourly jobs that have been slashed across the country due to store closings and other pandemic-related restrictions. This has resulted in women suffering the majority of pandemic-related job losses. Women also hold a greater share of frontline essential jobs that have faced greater risks of exposure such as nurses, teachers, home health care providers, flight attendants, transportation workers, grocery store clerks, childcare providers, and countless other positions. Simply put, we are getting through this pandemic and are on the brink of beating COVID-19 because of the tireless work of American women--and they deserve tangible support.
On Equal Pay Day earlier this year, I led a joint statement with Congresswoman Grace Meng, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence, and 32 other Democratic women in Congress highlighting the disproportionate effect COVID-19 has had on women and calling for structured relief. Therefore, I would like to include in the Record that statement.
Again, I rise in strong support of the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 7) and I urge my colleagues to pass this important legislation.
March 24, 2021.
Today is Equal Pay Day, the day in 2021 where women's earnings finally caught up to what men earned in 2020. While strides had been made to close this earnings gap, this past year has the potential of erasing years of progress because of the disproportionate impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on women.
The pandemic has dealt an unprecedented blow to every aspect of American society, taking more than half a million lives and costing our economy trillions of dollars. Our nation is facing multiple crises: the COVID-19 virus, economic uncertainty, and a caregiving shortage. As such, while the pandemic has caused virtually every American to struggle in some fashion, the brunt of this disaster has been felt by women--especially women of color.
Due to unstable child care and disruptions to school schedules, millions of mothers have been forced to leave the workforce to care for a child. Roughly 10 million working mothers have a child age 6 or younger, and many of these women have been forced to leave their jobs to care for their children. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 865,000 women left the labor force in September 2020 alone--more than four times the number of men who left the labor force that month.
Women are being forced out of the workforce for other reasons as well. Women disproportionately work lower wage hourly jobs that have been slashed across the country due to store closings and other pandemic-related restrictions. This has resulted in women suffering the majority of pandemic-related job losses, totaling more than 5.4 million net jobs, or 55 percent of the overall net job loss since the start of the crisis. This is especially true for Black, Latina, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and Native American women who are significantly more likely to work hourly jobs that have either been eliminated or have had their hours greatly reduced over the last year.
Even women who have maintained their job during this crisis have disproportionately been affected. Women hold a greater share of frontline essential jobs that have faced greater risks of exposure, such as nurses, teachers, home health care providers, flight attendants, transportation workers, grocery store clerks, child care providers, and countless other positions. Simply put, we are getting through this pandemic and are on the brink of beating COVID-19 because of the tireless work of American women--and they deserve tangible support.
While we are encouraged by the passage of the American Rescue Plan and strongly support the provisions that help protect working women, we also encourage our colleagues to consider this package as a down payment. We need transformational structural change to fight against the economic, financial, gender, and racial injustices. We need massive investments in our child care infrastructure, including universal child care and early learning, $15 minimum wage, and paid leave programs; without these, women will be set back a generation by this pandemic.
For decades, women have unionized and joined forces to fight for fair hiring practices, workplace protections, and our ongoing fight for equal pay. We simply cannot turn this clock back and we must continue to protect our right to organize and in doing so, fight to narrow the income gap. It will take all of us to dedicate the needed energy and resources to ensure that our daughters and granddaughters do not need to acknowledge Equal Pay Day in future years to come.
Sincerely,
Betty McCollum, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Grace Meng, Brenda Lawrence, Barbara Lee, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Chrissy Houlahan, Angie Craig, Sara Jacobs, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Marcy Kaptur, Nikema Williams, Gwen Moore, Carolyn Bourdeaux, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Grace F. Napolitano, Dina Titus, Robin L. Kelly, Katie Porter, Jackie Speier, Nanette Diaz Barragan, Rosa L. DeLaura, Marie Newman, Debbie Dingell, Judy Chu, Rosa L. DeLauro, Doris Matsui, Cori Bush, Nydia M. Velazquez, Pramila Jayapal, Jahana Hayes, Ilhan Omar, Linda T. Sanchez, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Jan Schakowsky, Lauren Underwood, Members of Congress.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 69
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
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