Pay Discrimination Hurts Women and Families in Southern Nevada

This Tuesday, April 12 marks Equal Pay Day, an important reminder for women and working families that our fight for equal pay for equal work still has a long way to go.

When I entered the workforce after college back in the early 1980s, I got a job as a computer programmer, creating software and writing apps before they were called apps. It was my first big job, though it didn’t pay much — just $12,000 a year — so I worked as a banquet waitress on the weekend to help make ends meet.

I worked hard and got promoted, moving up to a project leader role managing a group of employees. One day, my boss called me into his office and had me announce raises and distribute paychecks to my team of male colleagues.

I learned that the rest of my team’s salaries were higher than mine, and their raises were bigger than mine, even though many of these male colleagues were under my supervision. My boss explained, “Well, they have families to support — and you don’t.” And that was that.

Despite my qualifications and responsibilities, I automatically earned less than my male co-workers simply because of my gender. It shouldn’t have been acceptable in the early 1980s, and it’s even more inexcusable today.

In Nevada, women overall earn just 85 cents on the dollar compared to men. For women of color in Nevada, the statistics are much worse: Asian American women earn 68 cents on the dollar, African American women earn 65 cents on the dollar, and Latinas earn just 52 cents on the dollar compared to white men.

The cumulative impact of long-term pay discrimination in the workplace also threatens women’s retirement security. If we don’t close the wage gap, a Nevada woman today stands to lose $252,040 over the course of her 40-year career. Compared to a white man, that lifetime wage gap jumps to $702,280 for Asian American women, $775,160 for African American women and $1,040,360 for Latinas.

Women are almost twice as likely as men to retire into poverty. Lower earnings also negatively affect how much we will earn through Social Security.

Equal pay is fundamentally an issue of economic fairness. Families are working harder than ever but still struggling to get ahead. More and more families now count on a woman’s income to make ends meet, but pay discrimination is shortchanging a woman’s ability to provide for herself and her family.

I believe Congress should act to address this issue by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act. This commonsense bill will strengthen every woman’s power to combat pay discrimination in the workplace.

No employer should ever be allowed to sue or punish employees for sharing salary information with co-workers. And if they’ve faced pay discrimination because of their gender, women should absolutely have the ability to seek back pay and punitive damages. How can women earn equal pay for equal work if they don’t have the tools they need to challenge pay disparity in the workplace?

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, Republican obstruction is standing in the way of this important legislation. Congressman Heck has repeatedly voted to block this legislation from moving forward. One of Heck’s would-be successors, State Senate Majority Leader Michael Roberson, has even falsely argued that pay discrimination against women doesn’t exist.

I have a daughter of my own now making her way through college. She deserves to have the same economic opportunities as her male classmates, and to know that her hard work will never be discounted simply because of her gender.

Join my campaign for Congress at rosenfornevada.com.