Wirch Recognizes Equal Pay Day

Co-sponsors Legislation to Restore Equal Pay Enforcement Act

Madison - State Senator Bob Wirch (D-Somers) today released the following statement in honor of Equal Pay Day, which marks the day in 2013 when women’s wages finally catch up to what men were paid in 2012:

“Today is an important day. It’s a time to recognize that, even though women in the workplace have made great strides, there is still a long way to go. Pay discrimination is still a very real problem that needs to be addressed. We must continue to fight to achieve ‘Equal pay for equal work,’” Wirch stated.

In Wisconsin, women make $0.78 for every dollar earned by their male counterparts; Wisconsin women earn, on average, about $10,000 less than men each year. Currently, 229,080 households in Wisconsin are headed by women, and almost half of all mothers in Wisconsin are their family’s primary earner.

In 2009, Wisconsin became a national leader in the Equal Pay movement by enacting the Equal Pay Enforcement Act to give victims of pay discrimination state level options to recover damages and serve to deter bad actors in the future. A year after the law was passed, female earnings as a percentage of male earnings had risen by 3%, and Wisconsin’s ranking in terms of pay gap went from 36th worst in the country to 24th. Unfortunately, the Republican-controlled Legislature repealed the Equal Pay Enforcement Act in 2012. Legislation will be introduced later this week, with Senator Wirch serving as a co-sponsor, to restore the Equal Pay Enforcement Act.