Today is "Equal Pay Day". Clinton, Edwards & Obama release statements.

[Alamom]

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2007/04/hillary_clinton_1.html


April 24, 2007


Hillary Clinton is calculating (the wage gap)
Posted by Frank James at 2:05 pm CDT

Today is Equal Pay Day (who knew? it's not on my calendar) marking the day the average woman must work to in 2007 in order to have her wages match the average man's 2006 paycheck. In other words it took her almost four months longer to make what a man doing the same job made last year.

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Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign, the only woman in the race for either major party, issued a lengthy press release that trumpeted legislation she introduced last month called the Paycheck Fairness Act. Her bill would:


"...Create a training program to help women strengthen their negotiation skills, enforce equal pay laws for federal contractors and require the Department of Labor to work with employers to eliminate pay disparities. The bill would also prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who share salary information with their co-workers and allow women to sue for punitive damages in addition to compensatory damages now available under the Equal Pay Act."

The release included this line:


"It is high time high time we insisted that women receive equal pay for equal work in this country," Clinton said. "We have dispelled any notion that women aren’t up to the task, yet millions of capable women are still being underpaid solely because of their gender, and it’s time to put a stop to it."



Clinton is often accused of being calculating. So it's apt that she has a wage-gap calculator on her web site which "computes how much women are underpaid depending on their background, salary and location."


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Sen. Barack Obama's campaign issued a much shorter press release.

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Likewise, former Sen. John Edwards had a statement as well.




In contrast, I could find no evidence of Republicans marking Equal Pay Day. Three candidates on the Republican side who are getting most of the buzz, Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor; Sen. John McCain, and Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor make no mention of it on their web sites.

Incidentally, it appears Equal Pay Day isn't on the White House calendar either.


edit/clarity

[Catchawave]

1. Here's the Edwards statement:

http://johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/200700424-equalpay/

Apr 24, 2007

Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Senator John Edwards released the following statement on Equal Pay Day to encourage fair pay for all Americans.

"The cause of equality and respect for women has taken a series of blows in April. On the heels of Don Imus's degrading comments and a Supreme Court decision limiting women's reproductive health choices, today reminds us that women still lack equality of opportunity.

"We must work to take Equal Pay Day off the national calendar, by putting real pay equity on the national agenda. Women earn 77 cents on the dollar earned by men; the disparity for African-American and Latina women is even more striking. While women make up less than half of the workforce, they are 60% of people working at or near minimum wage. These facts have serious consequences for families struggling to make ends meet.

"A fair and just society must reward work equally, without discrimination, and reflect the needs of women for greater flexibility in the workplace. As president, I will help parents balance work and family by expanding access to quality preschool and after-school programs and expanding family and medical leave. We must also strengthen the remedies for sex discrimination to deter wrongdoing. I was a sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act when I was in the Senate, and Congress should pass the law before another year goes by."

[joshcryer]

2. Why is it that I take this more seriously coming from her?

To me it seems like Obama and Edwards are just paying lip service, whereas Hillary seems dead freaking serious here

[w4rma]

4. She is a former board member of Wal-mart. You shouldn't. (nt)

[joshcryer]

6. 20 years ago. First female board member.

She recently rejected donations from Wal-Mart due to their policies.

[ElizabethDC]

3. Hillary blogged about this over at Firedoglake

see here: http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/04/24/equal-pay-equal-respect/

[gratuitous]

5. NOTHING from the Republican candidates?

I guess they figure they can do without the votes of working women, too. Just who in the hell are the Republican candidates pitching their campaigns toward?