1. Paycheck Fairness Act Passes House Overwhelmingly
Last night, the House of Representatives approved the Paycheck Fairness Act (HR 1338) by a vote of 247– 178, with 14 Republicans supporting the bill. Sponsored by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the bill would update and strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963, closing loop holes and improving the law’s effectiveness. This is an enormous victory for BPW/USA and working women!

BPW/USA has supported the Paycheck Fairness Act since it was first introduce in 1997. BPW/USA joined with other women’s organizations to send a letter to all members of the House of Representatives asking them to support the bill without weakening amendments. Over twenty BPW state federations also signed onto that letter. BPW/USA members sent over 190 letters in twenty-four hours through the BPW/USA Advocacy Center in support of the bill. Click here to find out how your Representative voted. Thank you so much to everyone who weighed in with their Representative.

Speakers in favor of the bill were Representatives Miller (D-CA), Hoyer (D-MD), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), DeLauro (D-CT), Susan Davis (D-CA), Lee (D-CA), Eshoo (D-CA), Woolsey (D-CA), Andrews (D-NJ), Solis (D-CA), Holmes Norton (D-DC), Kaptur (D-OH), and Maloney (D-NY). Speakers in opposition to the bill were Representatives McKeon (R-CA), Wilson (R-SC), Foxx (R-NC), and Price (R-GA).

The bill was amended to specify that only employees, no job applicants, were covered by the bill and delaying enactment for six months to provide time to educate small businesses. The bill passed despite organized opposition from the National Association of Manufacturers and the Society of Human Resource Management. The White House has threatened to veto the bill.

2. Proposed Rule Undermines Women's Access to Health Care
BPW/USA has joined with a coalition of public health, religious, advocacy, and research groups to urge Health and Human Services Secretary Leavitt to abandon the Department’s pursuit of a regulation that could limit access to contraceptive services. The Department claims that these regulations are needed to educate the public and the health care industry about the scope of certain existing federal refusal clauses. However, contrary to Congress’ intent, the draft proposed regulations essentially rewrite those laws to permit institutions as well as individuals to refuse to provide women access to contraceptive services and information. Despite overwhelming public support for contraception, the draft rule seeks to limit access by deliberately confusing contraception with abortion. This is a far-reaching rule and would affect any health care entity that receives federal funding, directly or indirectly, from HHS.

3. Women Reach Equality in Job Loss
The Joint Economic Committee (JEC) has released a report, requested by Vice Chair Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), which finds that the current downturn threatens women’s employment more than ever before. The 2001 recession was the first in decades during which women not only lost jobs, but also did not see their employment rates recover to their pre-recession peak. Unlike in decades past, families can no longer rely on women’s employment to help boost family income during a downturn.

The proportion of women holding jobs in their prime working years, 25 to 54, peaked at 74.9 percent in early 2000 as the technology investment bubble was about to burst. Eight years later, in June, it was 72.7 percent, a seemingly small decline, but those 2.2 percentage points erase more than 12 years of gains for women. The pattern is roughly similar among the well-educated and the less educated, among the married and never married, among mothers with teenage children and those with children under 6, and among white women and black.

 

4. Sexual Bias and Glass Ceiling Issues Remain Intact
The Institute for Corporate Productivity has released a study which finds that more than half of companies have faced sexual discrimination complaints and most choose to handle them in-house and quietly. The July 2008 study found that more than half of the companies polled report they’ve had a sexual discrimination complaint lodged, and 43% say they’ve experienced personal clashes over sexual discrimination issues in their organization. Companies are paying attention - 83% have specific written guidelines regarding sexual discrimination.

The study also showed that most sexual discrimination complaints do not end up in court. Eighty percent of companies queried say they have not been sued as a result of complaints. Of those cases ending up in litigation, 47% were settled out of court favoring the employee who brought the suit, and in 12% of the cases, the employee dropped the suit.

With regard to equal pay issues and women occupying key roles in organizations, the study found that 17% of all organizations do not offer the same pay for women and men with like expertise/experience; 62% report that women serve on their organization’s board of directors. Overall, women hold upper-management positions within companies to a lesser extent.

The Taking the Pulse: Sexual Discrimination survey was conducted by i4cp, in conjunction with HR.com, in July 2008. The full results of the survey are available exclusively for all i4cp corporate members. i4cp is the world’s largest private network of corporations focused on improving workforce productivity. Click here for more information.