A senate RESOLUTION

 

TO RECOGNIZE march 14, 2023 AS "Equal pay DAY" IN SOUTH CAROLINA.

 

Whereas, more than fifty years after the passage of the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, women and people of color continue to suffer the consequences of inequitable pay differentials; and

 

Whereas, according to statistics released in 2016 by the U.S. Census Bureau, year-round, full-time working women in 2015 earned only eighty percent of the earnings of year-round, full-time working men, indicating little change or progress in pay equity; and

 

Whereas, according to a January 2002 report released by the General Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, women managers in seven out of ten industries surveyed actually lost ground in closing the wage gap between 1995 and 2000; and

 

Whereas, according to an analysis of data in over three hundred classifications provided by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2001, women earn less in every occupational classification for which enough data is available, including occupations dominated by women, such as cashiers, retail sales representatives, registered nurses, and teachers; and

 

Whereas, higher education is not free from wage discrimination according to a U.S. Department of Education analysis, reporting that, after controlling for rank, age, credentials, field of study, and other factors, full-time female faculty members earn nearly nine percent less than their male counterparts; and

 

Whereas, South Carolina ranks twenty-eighth for gender pay gap in the country. South Carolina has a pay gap of over nineteen percent, meaning that the average salary women earn is over ten thousand dollars less than the average salary men earn; and

 

Whereas, over a working lifetime, this wage disparity costs the average American woman and her family seven hundred thousand to two million dollars in lost wages, impacting Social Security benefits and pensions; and

 

Whereas, fair pay equity policies can be implemented simply and without undue costs or hardship in both the public and private sectors; and

 

Whereas, fair pay strengthens the security of families today and eases future retirement costs while also enhancing the American economy; and

 

Whereas, March 14, 2023 symbolizes the time this year in which the wages paid to American women catch up to the wages paid to men from the previous year.  Now, therefore,

 

Be it resolved by the Senate:

 

That the members of the South Carolina Senate, by this resolution, recognize March 14, 2023 as "Equal Pay Day" in South Carolina.

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