Press Releases

Rep. Don Beyer released the following statement today marking Equal Pay Day – the day when women’s wages finally catch up to what men were paid in the previous year, on average:
 
“It is profoundly wrong that women in the U.S. workforce still only earn 80 cents on average for every dollar a man makes. The pay gap is not only unfair, but it prevents us from reaching our true economic potential. For women of color, this unjust wage gap is even wider, and the barriers to success are even steeper. We still have a long way to go, and I fear that policies implemented by the Trump Administration will slow our progress.
 
“Closing the gender pay gap is a primary focus for me in Congress, and I mark this Equal Pay Day as another in a long series of signposts that we need to make our society fairer, faster.”
 
Representative Beyer hosts an annual women’s conference in his district focused on women’s empowerment and professional development, featuring advice for women in the workplace from successful businesswomen. He joined with Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) to hold a gender parity forum in 2017, and worked with her to introduce the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act and the Gender Diversity in Corporate Leadership Act. Beyer is an original cosponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act.