DNC Chair Jaime Harrison and DNC Women’s Caucus Chair Lottie Shackelford issued the following joint statement on Equal Pay Day:

“On Equal Pay Day we double down on our commitment to ensuring everyone, regardless of their gender or race, is paid fairly for the work they do. It is unacceptable that on average women earn 84 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts. These disparities are even more severe for women of color and can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars shortchanged over the course of a woman’s career.

“President Biden and Vice President Harris believe in equal pay for equal work and have championed correcting this decades long injustice in office. The Biden-Harris administration has taken key steps to advance pay equity in the federal workforce and increased the minimum wage for federal workers and contractors, which significantly benefits women, who are disproportionately minimum-wage workers. And President Biden’s economic agenda has helped lead to historically low unemployment, a record-breaking 12 million jobs created in the past two years, and a turning of the tide on women returning to the workforce after the pandemic. 

“While we celebrate the strides that have been made under the Biden-Harris administration, Democrats know there is still more work to be done and today is a reminder that we must recommit ourselves to ensure that all jobs are compensated fairly and equally, regardless of gender or background.”