Half a century later, Nelson Mandela is considered South Africa's founding father of Democracy; only two of the four Beatles are still living; and a typical woman earns just 78 cents for every dollar earned by a man.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. But closing the gender pay gap is more important than ever.
The participation of women in the economy has grown enormously over the past five decades: Half of all jobs are now held by women, compared to just a third of jobs in 1963, and 70% of women with children under 18 now work outside the home. That means the economic security of American families is increasingly dependent on women's earnings. The gender wage gap, it turns out, is not just a women's issue — it's a family issue, affecting the well-being of every family member, and not just today but far into the future.
A new report by the Joint Economic Committee Democratic staff breaks down the extent to which families rely on women's wages. The report finds that fully two-thirds of families rely on a mother's income. Working mothers generally contribute 40% of the household income, and women's earnings account for more than half the household income among 38% of married couples. A mother is the primary wage earner in one-third of American families. Low-income families depend even more on a woman's wages.
Let's face it: This is not your mother's wage gap.
Back in 1965, when the typical woman earned 60 cents for every dollar earned by a man, fewer than half of all women in their peak earning years were in the workforce. Today, more than three-quarters of women in that age group are in the workforce.
Wage disparity begins for many women in the first year of their careers and has implications long after they stop working. Lower wages translate into decreased lifetime earnings, which negatively impacts women's financial security in retirement.
Education is one of the primary factors determining earnings, but women's wages tend to be lower than men's even when virtually everything else is equal. A 2012 study conducted by the
American Association of University Women (AAUW) compared the salaries of women and men who had gone to similar colleges, pursued the same major, and went into the same profession. This study found that one year out of school, full time working females were making 7% less than full time working males.
A number of public policies before Congress would help boost women's wages — including the Equal Rights Amendment, which I'm sponsoring in the House, the Paycheck Fairness Act, raising the minimum wage, paid family and medical leave, encouraging women to enter higher paying and historically male fields such as science, engineering, technology and math, and implementing flexible workplace policies.
Women have made significant progress in closing the wage gap since the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, but at this rate, wage parity won't be reached before 2058, according to the Institute of Women's Policy Research. It's time to pick up the pace. Or, as Jon Stewart put it, we'll have flying cars before we have equal pay.
Maloney represents parts of Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn in the U.S. Congress and is the ranking Democrat on the congressional Joint Economic Committee.
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