Kay Hagan: “I certainly want to congratulate Senator Mikulski for all the hard work she has done, not only on this bill but on all…”

“I certainly want to congratulate Senator Mikulski for all the hard work she has done, not only on this bill but on all the bills on which she has worked so hard on behalf of women in our country. I applaud her for her efforts. I join with my colleagues to discuss an issue that affects women and families across America every day; it is the wage gap. Almost 50 years have passed since the Equal Pay Act was signed into law, and the wage gap between men and women remains wide today. It is time to bring the wages of women in line with those of their male counterparts. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act. Yet some question why we need this bill. Well, the numbers make it pretty clear. Women in the United States earn 77 cents for every dollar that men earn. In North Carolina, it is a little better but not equal. Women earn 81 cents for every dollar earned by men doing the same work, the same job. Over the course of 1 year, women in North Carolina experience nearly $8,000 in lost wages. That is $8,000 from what her male counterparts earn. With that $8,000, a woman could spend for her family an extra $110 a week on groceries for 73 weeks. She could buy another 2,200 gallons of gas at $3.60 a gallon. If women were paid the same as men for the same work, these are just a few of the expenses they would be able to afford more easily. The wage gap is not isolated in one industry either. It exists across virtually every sector of our economy.…”