Press Release

Today, Rep. Ami Bera, (D-CA) cosponsored the Paycheck Fairness Act on Equal Pay Day, a day to bring awareness to the gender income gap that exists in America and around the world.

The bill takes a number of crucial steps to close the pay gap by strengthening the Equal Pay Act of 1963, guaranteeing that women can challenge pay discrimination to hold their employers accountable, and protecting women from retaliation if they ask about their company's pay policies.

"Today is a reminder that in our nation, a woman earns on average eighty percent of what her male counterparts earn for the same work," Rep. Bera said. "The gender pay gap hurts women, their families, and our economy. I want my daughter to grow up in a country where she knows her work is just as valuable as her male coworkers' and that her salary reflects it. That's why I'm fighting in Congress for equal pay for equal work."

Equal Pay Day is recognized in April, to symbolize the amount of time a woman will have to work into the next year to earn what her male counterparts earned for the same work in the year before. It's held on a Tuesday to mark that same pay disparity from the previous work week.

Rep. Bera is an original co-sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which was introduced in the 113th and 114th Congresses.

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