Senate Moves Forward with Legislation to Guarantee Equal Pay for Women

The Senate voted today to move forward with legislation cosponsored by U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow that would ensure women receive equal pay for equal work. The Paycheck Fairness Act would help reduce gender discrimination by empowering women to negotiate for equal pay, close loopholes courts have created in the law, and create strong incentives for employers to obey the laws by strengthening federal enforcement efforts.

"Now that the Senate has voted on a bipartisan basis to move forward on this vital legislation, it should not be dragged down by partisan distractions and extraneous items, something that has happened all too often with commonsense bills in recent months," said Stabenow. "Ending gender discrimination in the workplace is not a partisan issue; it's the right thing to do in order to create an economy that works for all Americans. We need to debate and pass the Paycheck Fairness Act without delay to give Michigan families a fair shot to get ahead in life."

The Paycheck Fairness Act was blocked by Senate Republicans in April. Because of gender discrimination in pay, women in Michigan, on average, still earn only 74 cents on the dollar compared to men. Women must work one year, three months and 8 days - more than three months into the current year - to earn the same amount a man earned during just the 12 months of 2013.