2019-09

Equal Pay

Sponsored by Sen. Cristina Castro (IL), Sen. Omar Aquino (IL) and Sen. Iris Martínez (IL)

Unanimously ratified by the Caucus on December 5, 2019

WHEREAS, there has been a persistent gender wage gap in the United States; and,

WHEREAS, in 2017 women made up most minimum-wage employees at 58.4 percent, compared to 41.6 percent for their male counterpart;[1] and,

WHEREAS, the gender divide for workers paid under the minimum wage is even wider, with the percentage of women paid under the minimum wage at approximately 64.7 percent, compared to men at 35.3 percent;[2] and,

WHEREAS, controlling for factors such as education, training, marital status, and hours worked, college-educated women still earn seven percent less than men one year after college;[3] and,

WHEREAS, men have three times more retirement savings than women, which can dramatically affect the quality of life for different genders after retirement;[4] and,

WHEREAS, the percentage of families with children headed by a single mother increased from 14.6 percent in 1974 to 25.2 percent in 2015;[5] and,

WHEREAS, 64 percent of mothers are the primary, sole, or co-breadwinners for their families, which conveys that women’s income has become a large factor in supporting families and their children;[6] and,

WHEREAS, the lowest income quintile and the second lowest income quintile retain the two largest percentages of mother breadwinners at 69.4 and 45.6 percent respectively;[7] and,

WHEREAS, of these two lowest income quintiles for mothers, unmarried women breadwinners accounted for 60.6 percent of the lowest quintile and 32.3 percent for the second lowest income quintile;[8] and,

WHEREAS, women of color are more likely to be single mothers, with 53 percent of Hispanic childbirths being to unmarried women, as compared to 29 percent of non-Hispanic white women;[9] and,

WHEREAS, a “motherhood penalty” is attributed to women who become mothers in which mothers are paid less and are less likely to be hired compared to women without children;[10] and,

WHEREAS, in contrast, men get a bonus when they become fathers instead of getting any sort of penalty, which perpetuates the gender roles of women being caretakers and men being the breadwinners;[11] and,

WHEREAS, even in women-dominated careers, women still earn an average of $7,230 less than men across the ten largest women-dominated occupations, for an earnings ratio of 80% in those careers;[12] and,

WHEREAS, there is no state in the United States in which the average annual income for women is over 90% of the average annual man’s income;^[13] and,

WHEREAS, with every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men, Latinas make 53 cents;^[14] and,

WHEREAS, for every dollar a white, non-Hispanic father earns working, Latina mothers only make 46 cents, making Hispanic mothers the lowest-earning mothers among every race and ethnic group;[15] and,

WHEREAS, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 federally outlawed pay discrimination based solely based on sex,[16] yet employers have found loopholes to this legislation;[17] and,

WHEREAS, many employers base their salary offers for new employees based on their old salaries, which perpetuates a cycle of little improvement for this gender wage gap;[18] and,

WHEREAS, Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Colorado, and Alabama have all implemented a ban on requesting a salary history from all employers, with Illinois just passing legislation on salary bans;[19] and,

WHEREAS, women already have a higher poverty rate at 13 percent in 2016 as compared to the poverty rate of men at 10 percent;[20] and,

WHEREAS, women of color are even more disproportionately affected as Latinas face poverty at a rate of 18.7 percent, which is over two times higher than the rate for white men at 7 percent.[21]

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators recognizes the inequalities of the gender wealth gap and its severity against women across the United States, especially women of color; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators urges federal, state, and local policymakers to implement policies similar to those in the states outlined above to ban the use of salary histories to continue the restraints of the gender wealth gap; and,

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators impels federal, state, and local policymakers to enact legislation that enforces equal pay for employees of the same qualifications across all occupations, regardless of gender.

THE NHCSL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED THIS RESOLUTION ON AUGUST 2, 2019 AT ITS SUMMER MEETING IN SANTA FE, NM.

THE NATIONAL HISPANIC CAUCUS OF STATE LEGISLATORS UNANIMOUSLY RATIFIED THIS RESOLUTION ON DECEMBER 5, 2019, AT THE ANNUAL MEETING IN SAN JUAN, PR.

[1] Bureau of Labor Statistics https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2017/home.htm

[2] Ibid

[3] American Association of University Women https://www.aauw.org/what-we-do/public-policy/aauw-issues/gender-pay-gap/

[4] Inequality.org https://inequality.org/gender-inequality/

[5] Glynn, Sarah Jane. “Breadwinning Mothers Continue to be the U.S. Norm.” Center for American Progress. May 10, 2019. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2019/05/10/469739/breadwinning-mothers-continue-u-s-norm/

[6] American Association of University Women https://www.aauw.org/what-we-do/public-policy/aauw-issues/gender-pay-gap/

[7] Glynn, Sarah Jane. “Breadwinning Mothers Continue to be the U.S. Norm.” Center for American Progress. May 10, 2019. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2019/05/10/469739/breadwinning-mothers-continue-u-s-norm/

[8] Ibid

[9] Ibid

[10] Vagins, Deorah J. “The Simple Truth About the Gender Pay Gap.” Fall 2018 ed. American Association of University Women. Fall 2018. https://www.aauw.org/aauw_check/pdf_download/show_pdf.php?file=The_Simple_Truth

[11] Ibid

[12] American Association of University Women https://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/ Based on the calculated values of the median annual income for both men and women, the women’s income was subtracted from men’s income for the ten largest occupations occupied by women. Then these differences were added together before being divided by 10 to get the average difference between these gender incomes.

[13] National Women’s Law Center https://nwlc-ciw49tixgw5lbab.stackpathdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Wage-Gap-State-By-State-2018.pdf

[14] National Women’s Law Center Latinas https://nwlc-ciw49tixgw5lbab.stackpathdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Latina-Women-Lifetime-Losses-State-by-State-2019.pdf

[15] National Women’s Law Center mothers https://nwlc-ciw49tixgw5lbab.stackpathdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Moms-EPD-v5.pdf

[16] United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/epa.cfm

[17] American Association of University Women https://www.aauw.org/article/state-local-salary-history-bans/

[18] National Women’s Law Center https://nwlc-ciw49tixgw5lbab.stackpathdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/PFA-Closing-the-Loophole-v2.pdf

[19] American Association of University Women https://www.aauw.org/article/state-local-salary-history-bans/

[20] Inequaliy.org https://inequality.org/gender-inequality/

[21] Ibid