Congresswoman Nikema Williams Reintroduces the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-05) led 12 members of the House in introducing the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, which will reestablish the National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force.

According to the National Women’s Law Center, women stand to lose $542,800 over the course of a 40-year career. For Black women, Latinas, Indigenous women, and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander women, the losses are over $1 million over a lifetime.

Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-05) said: 

“Pay discrimination has been illegal for more than 60 years, yet too many women, especially Black women, are still fighting to be paid equally for the work they do. Black women working full-time, year-round earn just 65 cents for every dollar paid to their white male counterparts. That gap means less money for families, less opportunity to build generational wealth, and less economic security for working people across our state. 

The Equal Pay for Equal Work Act is about making sure the laws already on the books actually work — and that workers have a government willing to enforce them. Equal pay for equal work should not be a promise we keep pushing into the future. It should be the standard today.”

The Equal Pay for Equal Work Act is co-sponsored by Rep. Frederica Wilson (FL-24), Rep. Donald Beyer (VA-08), Rep. James McGovern (MA-02), Rep. Henry C. “Hank” Johnson Jr. (GA-04), Rep. André Carson (IN-07), Rep. Suzan DelBene (WA-01), Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28), Rep. Shontel Brown (OH-11), Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC)

Click here to read the text of the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act. 

Click here to read a one-pager on the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act.