Following is a statement from Democratic Party of Wisconsin Communications Director Melissa Baldauff on National Equal Pay Day.
“Today is National Equal Pay Day, the point in the year that signifies how many more days women have to work into the current year to have earned the same amount as men in the previous year.
“The fact that this exists in 2015 is appalling – every day should be Equal Pay Day.
“But equity isn’t just a matter of fairness and it isn’t, as Scott Walker has said, a ‘bogus issue.’ In fact, the gender pay gap has gotten worse under Scott Walker. Today, women in Wisconsin make just 78 cents to every dollar a man makes.
“Pay inequity is an economic issue that doesn’t just affect women, it impacts every working family. Women are the sole or primary breadwinners in 40% of all households with children under the age of 18.
“Equal pay for equal work would be the biggest economic stimulus our country could have. If women were paid equally to men for comparable work, there would be $200 billion more circulating in the national economy.
“Yet Republicans like Ron Johnson, Sean Duffy, and Glenn Grothman have repeatedly voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act in Congress and here in Wisconsin Scott Walker repealed Wisconsin’s Equal Pay Enforcement Act that gave additional protections to women, veterans, seniors, and disabled workers who were victims of discrimination.
“It’s not true that ‘money is more important’ for men, like Glenn Grothman said, or that the solution for economic security for women is to get a man to take care of us like Grothman and Ron Johnson have said.
“Women are more than capable of taking care of ourselves and our families.
“It’s also false to suggest that the pay gap exists because women choose lower-paying careers or because women take time off to have children. Pay inequity is an institutionalized problem that exists across the spectrum, in every sector and demographic. That’s why simply asking that in 2015 women be paid the same as men for the same work is merely the first step in closing the gender pay gap and ensuring that women have an equal opportunity to live the American Dream.
“If we want to continue to make progress on equality, in 2016 it is our responsibility to send another progressive champion for women and our rights to the White House and reject extremists like Ron Johnson.”
