[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 97 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. CON. RES. 97
Recognizing the significance of equal pay and the disparity between
wages paid to men and women.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 12, 2024
Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida (for herself, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. Williams of
Georgia, Ms. Leger Fernandez, Ms. Adams, Mr. Allred, Mr. Amo, Ms.
Balint, Ms. Barragan, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Bishop of Georgia,
Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Bowman, Mr.
Boyle of Pennsylvania, Ms. Brown, Ms. Brownley, Ms. Budzinski, Ms.
Bush, Ms. Caraveo, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. Cardenas, Mr. Carson, Mr. Carter
of Louisiana, Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Case, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr.
Castro of Texas, Ms. Chu, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Cleaver, Mr.
Costa, Ms. Crockett, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania,
Ms. DeGette, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Deluzio, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mrs. Dingell,
Ms. Escobar, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Evans, Mr. Foster, Mr. Frost, Mr.
Garamendi, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Mr. Goldman of
New York, Mr. Gomez, Mr. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Mr. Gottheimer, Mr.
Green of Texas, Mr. Grijalva, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Horsford, Ms. Houlahan,
Ms. Hoyle of Oregon, Mr. Ivey, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Jackson of North
Carolina, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Ms. Jacobs, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Johnson
of Georgia, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Keating, Ms. Kelly of
Illinois, Mr. Khanna, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Kim of New Jersey,
Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Kuster, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Ms. Lee of
California, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Ms. Lee of Nevada, Mr. Lieu, Ms.
Lofgren, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Magaziner, Ms. Matsui, Ms. McClellan, Ms.
McCollum, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Meng, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin,
Mr. Morelle, Mr. Moskowitz, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Mullin, Mr. Nadler, Mrs.
Napolitano, Mr. Neal, Ms. Norton, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Omar, Mr.
Pallone, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Pappas, Mr. Payne, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Peters,
Ms. Pettersen, Mr. Phillips, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Pressley, Mr.
Quigley, Mrs. Ramirez, Mr. Raskin, Ms. Ross, Mr. Ryan, Mr. Sablan, Ms.
Salinas, Ms. Sanchez, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr.
Schiff, Mr. Schneider, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Ms. Sewell, Ms. Sherrill,
Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Soto, Ms. Stansbury, Mr. Stanton, Ms.
Stevens, Ms. Strickland, Mr. Swalwell, Mrs. Sykes, Mr. Takano, Mr.
Thanedar, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Ms. Titus, Ms. Tokuda, Mr.
Tonko, Mrs. Torres of California, Mrs. Trahan, Mr. Trone, Mr. Vargas,
Ms. Velazquez, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms. Wexton,
Ms. Wild, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Davis of North Carolina, and Mr.
Connolly) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
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))
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, more than 6 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 84 cents for every dollar paid to all
men, while Latinas are paid 57 cents, American Indian and Alaska Native
women are paid 59 cents, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women are
paid 66 cents, African-American women are paid 69 cents, White, non-
Hispanic women are paid 80 cents, and Asian-American women are paid 99
cents, for every dollar paid to White, non-Hispanic men;
Whereas March 12, 2024, is Equal Pay Day, marking the day that symbolizes how
long into 2024 women must work to make what men were paid in 2023;
Whereas April 3, 2024, is observed as Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and
Pacific Islander Women's Equal Pay Day; July 9, 2024, is observed as
Black Women's Equal Pay Day; August 28, 2024, is observed as Native
Hawaiian Pacific Islander Women's Equal Pay Day; October 3, 2024, is
observed as Latinas' Equal Pay Day; and November 21, 2024, is observed
as Native Women's Equal Pay Day;
Whereas LGBTQI+ women and women with disabilities may face further pay
disparities;
Whereas, if current trends continue, Asian women are projected to close the
gender pay gap for all workers, including part-time, full-time, and
seasonal workers, in 23 years, White women in 43 years, Black women in
121 years, and Latinas in 187 years;
Whereas the disparity in median annual earnings for women and men working full
time, year round is $9,990, which can add up to nearly $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
73 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 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 $965,000,000,000 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 for just 1 year, on
average, a working woman in the United States would have enough money
for approximately 11 months of childcare, nearly 8 additional months of
rent, more than 5 additional months of mortgage and utilities payments,
2 semesters of tuition and fees for a 4-year public university or the
full cost of tuition and fees for attending a 2-year college, more than
6 additional months of premiums for employer-based health insurance,
more than 55 weeks of food, or enough money to pay off student loan debt
in just under 5 years;
Whereas women hold nearly two-thirds of the Nation's outstanding student loan
debt, totaling over $929,000,000,000, 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-based wage differentials reduce family incomes and contribute to the
higher poverty rates among women and their families;
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 two-thirds the
size of the wage gap between nonunion women and men, and women union
members typically earn $191 more per week than women who are not
represented by unions;
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 1 in 3 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 more than 40 percent, and
the economy would add $541,000,000,000 in wage and salary income
annually; and
Whereas numerous national organizations have designated Tuesday, March 12, 2024,
as ``Equal Pay Day'' to represent the additional time that women must
work to compensate for the average 16-percent lower wages paid to women
working full time, year round 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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