President Barack Obama proposed a new rule to help create equal pay for women in the workforce, after the seven year anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
A topic that isn’t as openly spoken about, equal pay, has always been a hot commodity in the United States history.
Today, women in the United States, on average, are paid on average 79 cents to a man’s dollar according to the Associated Press.
“As a society, we need to acknowledge that women are just as important,” said CSUSB student, Katherine Vargas, a junior.
“It’s a big deal that women are still getting paid less than men, but I think some people are just unaware that women still, in 2016, are trying to get equal pay,” added Vargas.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first bill that Obama had signed back in January of 2009.
This bill was named after Lilly Ledbetter who back in 2007 took her case to The Supreme Court, when she found out that her employer was paying her less than the men at her workplace for the same job.
Women have taken charge in the workforce for years. Many students commented on the fact that Hilary Clinton is a leading candidate as the next president of The United States.
“The more women come into power, the more the issue arises, and with Hilary (Clinton) as a favorite to win the democratic ticket, it would make sense that this issue is one she speaks on,” said CSUSB senior, Sean Egle.
“A woman is running for President of The United States in this upcoming election, that glass ceiling myth needs to be demolished, women should be able to do anything that a man does,” said CSUSB student, Joe Haro.
“I don’t think there should be a difference in the pay of men and women, gender shouldn’t be a result in how much you paychecks come out,” added Haro.
In the United States, the average median for full time women working year around is $39,600 while a man’s median, for the same criteria, is $50,400, according to whitehouse.gov.
According to whitehouse.gov, the proposed plan by the president and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) would partner with the Department of Labor to annually collect summarypayouts from companies with at least 100 employees. The data collected would be divided by gender, race and ethnicity.
The proposed rule expands on a previously published rule by Department of Labor, which would’ve applied only to federal contractors, according to CNN.
This would result in data from 63 million employers in the U.S., according to whitehouse.gov.
September 2017 looks to be when the first reports of the new rule will be finished, if adopted.
At the White House press conference about the proposed rule, Obama commented on the situation.
“We knew we had a lot more to do to close the pay gap between men and women and ensure that no women would ever face the kind of discrimination that Lilly faced on the job” said Obama.
Leave a Reply