WILLIAMS CALLS FOR EQUAL PAY AND A WORKING WAGE

HARRISBURG, APRIL 25 – During a Capitol rally this morning, state Sen. Connie Williams joined her colleagues in drawing attention to the need for pay equity for women and men.

“It is time that we understand that the success of every woman is the success of every child, every family, every community, every state and every country,” Williams said. “We must continue to fight for equal pay for equal work; access to credit for women business owners, protection from abuse, access to health care, safe and affordable childcare.”

“We cannot allow women’s lives to be worth less than men’s,” Williams said.

Williams pointed to the fact that most Pennsylvanians depend upon minimum wage jobs to earn their living and a large percentage of them are women.

“This is one of the reasons that it is so important that we increase Pennsylvania’s minimum wage,” Williams said. “Pennsylvania’s current minimum wage is a slave wage and we should be ashamed.”

 A person who works full time at minimum wage in Pennsylvania earns less than $11,000 a year. To compound the issue, most minimum wage jobs do not offer health insurance.

 “Women continue to be the primary care givers and understandably, women continue to put child-care needs ahead of their own careers and ambitions. Unfortunately, for many women, this can mean accepting a job that only pays minimum wage,” Williams said. “It shouldn’t be more advantageous for people to be on public welfare than to accept a job that pays minimum wage.”

 Williams pointed to a PathWaysPA study that looks at how much a woman needs to earn to be self-sufficient. The standard varies by family type and location and the age of children. For one adult living in Philadelphia, to be self-sufficient they would need to earn $8.14 an hour. An adult and one preschooler would raise the minimum to $14.43 an hour and one adult with one preschooler and one school-age child would need to earn $18.35 per hour to be self-sufficient.

 In Montgomery County the costs are higher than Philadelphia: a single adult must earn at least $10.66 an hour, while a single adult with a preschooler needs to earn $17.47 an hour just to reach self-sufficiency.

 In Delaware County, a single adult must earn at least $9.79 an hour, while a single adult with a preschooler needs to earn $16.38 an hour to reach self-sufficiency.

 “There is no time to delay,” Williams said of the need for action on equal pay and on minimum wage.

 “We must take action now – the lives of women and children are at stake,” Williams said.