[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 24 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. CON. RES. 24
Recognizing the significance of equal pay and the disparity between
wages paid to men and women.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 23, 2021
Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida (for herself, Ms. DeLauro, Mrs. Lawrence,
Ms. Adams, Mr. Auchincloss, Ms. Barragan, Ms. Bass, Mrs. Beatty, Mr.
Beyer, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Ms.
Bonamici, Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. Brown, Ms.
Brownley, Ms. Bush, Mrs. Bustos, Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Carbajal, Mr.
Carson, Mr. Case, Ms. Castor of Florida, Ms. Chu, Mr. Cicilline, Ms.
Clark of Massachusetts, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Cohen,
Mr. Connolly, Mr. Cooper, Ms. Craig, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois,
Ms. Dean, Mr. DeFazio, Ms. DeGette, Ms. DelBene, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr.
Deutch, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Michael F. Doyle of Pennsylvania, Ms.
Escobar, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Espaillat, Mrs. Fletcher, Mr. Gallego, Ms.
Garcia of Texas, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Gomez, Mr. Grijalva, Mr.
Hastings, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Horsford, Ms. Houlahan, Ms. Jackson Lee, Ms.
Jacobs of California, Ms. Jayapal, Ms. Johnson of Texas, Mr. Jones, Mr.
Kahele, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Keating, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Khanna, Mr.
Kilmer, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Kuster, Mr. Langevin,
Mr. Lawson of Florida, Mrs. Lee of Nevada, Ms. Lee of California, Ms.
Leger Fernandez, Mr. Levin of California, Mr. Lieu, Ms. Lofgren, Mr.
Lynch, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney of
New York, Ms. Manning, Ms. Matsui, Mrs. McBath, Ms. McCollum, Mr.
McGovern, Mr. McNerney, Mr. Meeks, Ms. Meng, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin,
Mr. Morelle, Mr. Moulton, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Neguse, Ms. Newman, Mr.
Norcross, Ms. Norton, Ms. Omar, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Pappas, Mr. Pascrell,
Ms. Pingree, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Porter, Ms. Pressley, Mr. Price of North
Carolina, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Raskin, Ms. Ross, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Mr.
Rush, Mr. Ryan, Ms. Sanchez, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Schrier,
Ms. Sewell, Ms. Sherrill, Mr. Sires, Mr. Smith of Washington, Ms.
Speier, Ms. Stevens, Mr. Suozzi, Mr. Swalwell, Mr. Takano, Ms. Titus,
Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Torres of New York, Mrs. Trahan, Mr. Vargas, Ms.
Velazquez, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. Welch, Ms.
Wexton, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Yarmuth,
Ms. Slotkin, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, and Miss Rice of New York)
submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on Education and Labor
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Recognizing the significance of equal pay and the disparity between
wages paid to men and women.
Whereas section 6(d) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C.
206(d)(1)) prohibits discrimination in compensation for equal work on
the basis of sex;
Whereas title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.)
prohibits discrimination in compensation because of race, color,
religion, national origin, or sex;
Whereas over 5 decades after the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (29 U.S.C.
206 note), Census Bureau data show that women working full-time, year-
round are paid an average of 82 cents for every dollar paid to men,
while Asian-American women working full-time, year-round are paid 87
cents, White, non-Hispanic women working full-time, year-round are paid
79 cents, African-American women working full-time, year-round are paid
63 cents, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women working full-time,
year-round are paid 60 cents, American Indian and Alaska Native women
working full-time, year-round are paid 60 cents, and Latinas working
full-time, year-round are paid 55 cents for every dollar paid to White,
non-Hispanic men;
Whereas March 24, 2021, is Equal Pay Day, marking the day that symbolizes how
long into 2021 women must work to make what men were paid in 2020;
Whereas March 9, 2021, is Asian American and Pacific Islander Women's Equal Pay
Day; August 3, 2021, is Black Women's Equal Pay Day; September 8, 2021,
is Native Women's Equal Pay Day; and October 21, 2021, is Latinas' Equal
Pay Day;
Whereas if current trends continue, Asian women are projected to close the
gender pay gap in 22 years, White women in 50 years, Black women in 350
years, and Latinas in 432 years;
Whereas the disparity in median annual earnings for women and men working full-
time, year-round is $10,157; which can add up to more than $400,000 over
a career;
Whereas women's median earnings are less than men's at every level of academic
achievement, with women with less than a high school diploma earning 72
percent of men's earnings, and women with a professional degree earning
68 percent of men's earnings at the same level of education;
Whereas women are often paid less than men with lower levels of education, with
women with associate's degrees paid less than men with a high school
diploma, and women with master's degrees paid less than men with
bachelor's degrees;
Whereas in the United States, mothers are breadwinners in nearly half of
families with children under 18, and mothers working full-time typically
are paid 75 percent of what fathers are paid;
Whereas the gender wage gap collectively costs women employed full-time in the
United States more than $956 billion in annual lost wages, so that
families have less money to spend on goods and services that help drive
economic growth;
Whereas if the annual gender wage gap were eliminated, on average, a working
woman in the United States would have enough money for approximately 13
more months of childcare, 9 additional months of rent, 6 additional
months of mortgage and utilities payments, the full cost of tuition and
fees for attending a 2-year college, almost 7 additional months of
premiums for employer-based health insurance, more than 8 additional
years of birth control, more than 64 weeks of food, or enough money to
pay off student loan debt in just under 3 years;
Whereas women hold two-thirds of the Nation's $1.54 trillion in outstanding
student loan debt, totaling over $929 billion, and are less likely to be
able to pay off their student loan debt promptly due to wage
disparities;
Whereas the wage gap impacts women's ability to save for retirement and women's
total Social Security and pension benefits, and older women are more
likely than men to live in poverty;
Whereas sex discrimination in education, hiring, and promotion has played a role
in maintaining a workforce segregated by sex;
Whereas sex-based wage differentials--
(1) depress employee wages and living standards necessary for health
and well-being;
(2) reduce family incomes and contribute to the higher poverty rates
among women and their families; and
(3) prevent the effective and maximum utilization of available labor
resources;
Whereas a wage gap exists in nearly every occupational field, but opening
traditionally male-dominated jobs to women and reducing occupational
segregation by sex increases earnings for women;
Whereas nearly two-thirds of workers paid the minimum wage or less are women and
the concentration of women in low-wage jobs is a significant contributor
to the wage gap;
Whereas the gender wage gap between union women and men is about half the size
of the wage gap between nonunion women and men, and women union members
typically earn $212 more per week than women who are not represented by
unions;
Whereas as much as 38 percent of the wage gap is unexplained by observable
factors such as variation in educational attainment, industry, and
occupation, and may reflect discrimination;
Whereas two-thirds of private sector workers report that employers either
prohibit or discourage them from discussing their pay, which can keep
the existence of pay discrimination hidden and prevent remedying that
discrimination;
Whereas the lack of family friendly policies, such as access to affordable,
quality childcare, paid family and medical leave, paid sick days, and
fair and predictable work schedules, forces many caregivers to choose
between providing for their families financially and ensuring their
loved ones receive quality care, and contributes to the wage gap;
Whereas one in three women have been on the receiving end of sexual harassment
during their careers, and an estimated 87 to 94 percent of those who
experience sexual harassment never file a formal complaint;
Whereas workplace harassment forces many women to leave their occupation or
industry, or pass up opportunities for advancement, and this contributes
to the gender wage gap;
Whereas equal pay strengthens the economic security of families and enhances
retirement savings;
Whereas when women are paid fairly, families are stronger, businesses prosper,
and American values and the economy are strengthened;
Whereas if women in the United States received equal pay comparable with men,
poverty for working women would be reduced by half and the economy would
add $5.12 billion annually, based on a 2017 analysis;
Whereas the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has had a
disproportionate impact on women and women of color, with women losing
the majority of jobs lost since March 2020;
Whereas since women earn less on average than their male partners, three times
more women than men have left the workforce to look after their children
who are learning from home;
Whereas women and women of color are now experiencing the lowest rates of
employment in decades; and
Whereas numerous national organizations have designated Wednesday, March 24,
2021, as Equal Pay Day to represent the additional time that women must
work to compensate for the average 18 percent lower wages paid to women
last year: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That Congress--
(1) recognizes the disparity between wages paid to women
and men and its impact on women, families, and the Nation; and
(2) reaffirms its commitment to supporting equal pay and to
narrowing the gender wage gap.
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