Remarks of Lisa M. Maatz
Director of Public Policy and Government Relations
American Association of University Women
Equal Pay Day Press Conference
April 19, 2005
Good Morning. My name is Lisa Maatz, and I am the Director of Public Policy and Government Relations for the American Association of University Women.
Thank you Senator Harkin, Senator Clinton, Congresswoman DeLauro and Congresswoman Norton, for your critical leadership on the issue of pay equity. AAUW is proud to stand with you today as you introduce two bills aimed at shrinking the wage gap between women and men.
Since 1913, in fact, when AAUW released a comprehensive report detailing disparities between men and women’s pay in federal government jobs, AAUW has been working to eliminate pay inequity.
Even when men and women with the same levels of education are compared, a pay gap remains. Research released by the AAUW Educational Foundation earlier this year revealed that a typical college-educated woman, working full time, earns $44,200 a year, compared to $61,800 for college-educated male workers—a whopping difference of $17,600.
In fact, after considering job tenure, years in the labor market, occupation, education, and other factors usually associated with pay, about 20 % of the gap remains unexplained. Even government economists admit there are unexplained factors after adjusting for all of the variables.
Do Americans know about this disparity? Why do they think there is a pay gap?
Today, on Equal Pay Day, AAUW releases the results of a late March poll that helps to answer some of these questions.
First, Americans are well aware that a pay gap exists between men and women working full time, according to AAUW’s research.
In fact, firm majorities agree that there is a difference between the wages of male and female full-time workers. Women are more likely to believe there is a pay gap, and they also estimate a bigger gap, on average, than men. This is not surprising, since women experience the realities of the wage gap first hand.
The new AAUW poll also sheds light on some of the public’s perceptions about the cause of the pay gap. Respondents listed these top three reasons for why they believe the pay gap exists:
- Employers don’t promote young women because employers assume that women will leave their jobs if they have children. This belief was consistent among women, regardless of whether they were Democrats or Republicans.
- Women prioritize family over career.
- In their hiring and promotion practices, employers discriminate against women because of their gender.
In short, people believe that women’s wages are lower because of their potential caregiving roles. And are more likely to attribute the pay gap to employer discrimination.
Women are telling it like it is and they’ve taken the pay gap head on. They’ve put tremendous energy into changing their role in the workplace. Thirty years ago the pay gap was attributed to the notion that women’s education and skills just didn’t “measure up.” Well, if that was ever the case, it certainly isn’t true now.
More women are attending and graduating from colleges and professional schools than ever before. Women are entering fields that provide better opportunities for higher wages. In fact, women have made considerable advancements in fields traditionally considered male – long suggested as a way for women to increase their pay.
Now that these strides have been made – but pay equity still remains out of reach and largely unexplained, even in these professions – critics have found a new justification for the pay gap: that women somehow have the “wrong” educational credentials and skills. But excuses are excuses, and facts are facts.
Women have made significant gains in nontraditional fields including biology, law, medicine, physical sciences, business and mathematics. Women are working hard to balance the roles of work and family. They’ve developed and supported successful legislation that has opened the doors to keeping them in the workforce longer. Despite all this, the gap still exists and these issues must be addressed. When women don’t earn equal pay, they’re not the only ones to suffer -- their families do to. And the American people believe women’s wages are penalized because of their potential caregiving roles.
Skeptics like to claim that there is no real pay gap – that somehow it’s all a product of our imaginations. Worse, these critics prefer to blame women for any disparities, saying the pay gap is due to the 'choices' that women make; that women apparently just “naturally” like the jobs with lower pay or less risk. That’s just absurd. Even government economists say that a large percentage of the pay gap remains unexplained even after adjusting for the life choices women make. Regardless, the very idea that women would purposely choose a job that pays less money is ridiculous. In these days when two incomes are needed to make ends meet, and where female headed households are so much more likely to be poor, I think it’s fair to say we can give women more credit than that.
As for risk? Well, when it comes to their families, women are more than willing to put themselves at risk to improve their situations. And, according to the AAUW’s research, the public believes women’s wages are being penalized for this emphasis on the family -- apparently making family a priority IS a risk that women have been willing to take all along.
Another argument is that motherhood -- not discrimination -- is the real culprit behind the pay gap. If that’s the case, than we have much larger problems than the pay gap to deal with. If that’s true, than this country – including its policy makers – needs to take a long, hard look at why the marketplace punishes women for being mothers – or as AAUW’s poll showed, for simply their potential to be mothers – while fatherhood carries no financial risk.
Here’s the bottom line: There’s a wage gap that economists agree can’t be explained away by women’s choices – no matter how convenient, no matter how comfortable it would be for the critics if they could do so. What AAUW plans to do is to continue to take an active role in changing the persistent inequity in women’s paychecks, by unmasking and by naming the real root causes of the issue, relying on facts over inflated rhetoric, and creating more work settings that are supportive of all workers with family responsibilities, regardless of gender.
Collectively, women have demonstrated that they have the sills and the intelligence to do any job. Women have made enormous gains in education and labor force participation. Not it’s time for our paychecks to catch up.
Return to the 2005 Equal Pay Day press conference page
