Google "pay gap myth". Draw your own conclusions. It is just political rhetoric.

College educated women earn just as much as men and sometimes more. Agreed, this is political football and not fact. Mens issues are totally ignored. How about talking about the public health crisis of middle aged male suicide. No other group has such a higher rate and if one drills down it is due to divorce and being thrown out of their kids lives in record numbers. NO one talks about issues of import to men, fathers and their kids. Time to engage this conversation.

There is no jib that I know of that has two pay scales. Im not saying there are none, but none that I know of. I meet people all day long in my line of work, I mean if you work at McDonalds you get paid the same, If you work at a Public Relations firm, you get paid the same, ( education counts ) And so on. I also know of men who do not have the same credentials as some women and they get paid less. The pay inequality works both ways. Or so it seems to me. That being said, it's time to go....

If you all think there is no problem then a bill enforcing equal pay for equal work should be a non-issue. Apples to Apples jobs should be paid the same as long as that person is performing. Let's put it in writing and see what happens:>

From the Department of Labor
The pay gap isn’t a myth, it’s a reality – and it’s our job to fix it.
http://social.dol.gov/blog/myth-busting-the-pay-gap/

This sad joke gets retold every four years and the gullible listen like it is new. Let us suspend disbelief and pretend the pay gap is real. An august government panel decides women need a 30% pay increase to be even with their male counterparts. The pay increase is implemented across the board to private sector and government employees.

Let us examine the law of unintended consequences. Assume half of those in government are women. Payrolls expenses go up by 15% necessitating tax increases or bond borrowings to cover the shortfall. Local, state and federal budgets are disrupted and creditworthiness plummets. Taxes are increased… which brings strident complaints from selected women not entranced by the central-planned economy. Or people are laid off to operate within the same budget… fewer women employed but at higher rates.

Similarly private sector labor costs go up by 15%. Many customers, including women, complain they cannot or will not pay the large penalty now applied to goods and services. Businesses fail before women, who are now paid much more, can spend more of their increased disposable income on businesses who must pay female employees more. It gets complicated, which is why many will argue the new rules must be phased in slowly. .. just slow enough that the transition from America, as we knew it, to a European social democracy is largely unnoticed.

Still think this is a good idea?

Reverend E. Raleigh Pimperton III

Maria -
Thanks for the article from the Dept. of Labor - an excellent article. I am encouraged to see that they are developing tools that one can use to see if they are being paid fairly. Since we already have a law in place, the key is for workers to be able to compare their salaries with others who perform the same services. That said, within some lines of work that gets very tricky - as companies should still have the right to reward better performance from dedicated workers - of either gender.

Woman or Man .. if you do not like your job or feel you are not getting paid fairly......find another job. The whole world does not owe you or me or anyone else a living. We are a society of cry babies that will complain about anything without trying to take care of ourselves. Sorry to be crass but I was brought up to take care of myself and not look for handouts or for other people especially the government to fix MY problems.

My wife raised our 3 kids, participated in the PTA, church and several charities. It was literally a full time job. Exhausted at the end of the day, it took all of her time, attention, and energy. I followed my career path, and I did well, but I too came home beat. But my day, like my wifes, was not done. I helped with the kids schooling/projects and did whatever housework that needed to be done. We were a team. Women now "want it all", balancing a career along with any family that can be squeezed in betwwen. BOTH jobs requiring everything they have, they now opt to do BOTH. It is not conceiveable that a woman who is doing a career job with one hand, and doing the childcare with the other hand, can possibly compete with workers who are dedicated to just one job and are doing it with BOTH hands. Just can't be done. Male executives don't take 3 months off to have a baby and expect that everything is the same as it was when they return. The cut throat world of business and meeting deadlines and sales quotas and the politics of who is next in line, and who screwed up the meeting that the CEO attended, etc doesn't just freeze waiting for your maternal biology to catch up. You want to compete with the big boys? Then you gotta make a choice. If you want to be a momma, God Bless you, but IBM, Oracle or Price Waterhouse needs full time scrapers who don't take the summer off. You want equal pay? Then show up like a man, fight like a man, and leave PTA meetings to the mom's.

Any 'adjustments' to women's pay would destroy the immense advantage held by female dominated businesses. If women are underpaid, these businesses have an enormous cost advantage over male dominated companies. They are able to deliver goods and services at lower cost and should dominate their segments. Why would women wish to eliminate this competitive edge?

Reverend E. Raleigh Pimperton III

The real reason both men and woman work 24/7 round the clock is because your money is worth less and less and less and less and less and less and less. And more less. Please consider Gary Johnson asap. Be Libertarian for one election.

www.garyjohnson2012.com

The problem is that like Lily Ledbetter many women don't learn of the pay disparity until after we've spent too much time with one company and our ability to move to another is compromised by our age. For women over 45, age discrimination is very real. Benthere

Helen,
Age discrimination exists for both men and women. Men and women are also discriminated against in the workplace based on height, weight, physical appearance, etc.. Here's a great article, based on existing studies, that show other factors regarding appearance (besides gender) on pay.
http://www.businessinsider.com/if-you-have-any-of-these-20-physical-features-your-pay-check-will-probably-be-higher-2011-2?op=1

Fact women ARE below a man and it will always be that way. They need to learn there place in the pecking order.
Women get paid what there worth and thats not to much. They need to stop complaining !

The facts are that the pressure on businesses to hire and advance women and minorities is immense. I am in a service industry and I have refused to engage in discussions about advancing PEOPLE based upon their gender, ethnic or racial status. There is no question, however, that the discussions occur and that when the qualifications of two PEOPLE are considered the gender/ethnic/racial issue inures to the detriment of the non-minority male. This is without question a sexist and racist practice. The liberals in the world not only fail to condemn the practice, but laud it. Hypocrisy at its very pinnacle. I truly believe that the only way for the USA to compete globally is for the best candidate regardless of gender, ethnicity or race be promoted or hired. This is the argument which was the basis for the civil rights movement, but it has been lost in the shuffle. Gender wage gap is a red herring and subterfuge for more liberal social engineering.

Binders - I don't think your comments are "for real" - but a mockery of evangelicals. You ought to cease and desist.

Binders,

In case you are being sincere, let me beseech you to get off the boards for a while and reconnect with your heavenly Father. I think you are doing more harm than good for the kingdom. Scripture speaks of the love and mutual respect required of husband and wife for one another.
At any rate, the President raises a great point when he says that penalizing women with lower pay for equal work is pushing families headed by a single parent into the poverty level, which would, of course, only compound the problem by requiring the mom to work more hours, possibly jeopardizing the time she is needed to be with her kids. But the greater issue is that it is simply unfair. If a two parents in a home bring in equally great salaries - it is really up to them to be generous in helping others, not up to the government to try to make that happen with allowing inequalities in pay scales.

Enough already with rhetoric..we get it! You are a fundamentalist christian and have this belief. Luckily for many, the USA was founded on separation of church and state therefore people in the USA don't have to believe in the bible..just like you do not have to believe in the Koran or Torah. The basis for a government sponsored bill would thus be the constitution and equality.

Bindersfull, Miss Miller and Waterinfo are correct. This is not the place for a bible study. However your credibility as a learned man of the bible is faulty. The passacge that you refer to is not in Mark. It is in "1 Peter 3: first paragraph. or Colossians 3:18-21. Better read that bible again.

Poor bindersfull appears possessed by Satan, and beyond our help.

Reverend E. Raleigh Pimperton III

Bindersfull is in fact Tammy Faye Bakker... back with us from beyond the mortal coil, and offering her wisdom on women's compensation.

Reverend E. Raleigh Pimperton III