Press Releases

SANTA FE - On Equal Pay Day, Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03) released the following statement on the Paycheck Fairness Act and the pay disparity for women across the country:

“Equal pay for equal work is not simply a women’s issue - it’s a family issue, it’s a civil rights issue. Women, especially women of color, continue to be undervalued and underpaid. In New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District, women earn only 78 cents for every dollar a man earns. This wage gap is increased even further for Latinas and Native American women across the country. Native American women’s equal pay day isn’t until September 8th and Latina equal pay day is October 21st.

“Equal and equitable wages should not be denied because of a person’s gender or ethnicity. Ending the wage gap will not only help women but it will help families and communities to grow and prosper. Today, I participated in the Education and Labor committee’s approval of the Paycheck Fairness Act which will now head to the House Floor for consideration. The bill we approved today will strengthen and modernize the Equal Pay Act. This legislation will get us one step closer to ending the wage gap and provide effective remedies for women who are not being paid equally. I am a co-sponsor of this bill and I am committed to working to ensure that every woman receives the equal compensation that they deserve.” 

Fifty-eight years after the 1963 Equal Pay Act was enacted, the latest data show that nationwide full-time working women still earn only 82 cents, on average, for every dollar a man earns, amounting to a yearly gender gap of $10,157 between full-time working men and women.  Furthermore, the wage gap is even larger for women of color – with, on average, Black women earning just 63 cents, Native American women just 60 cents and Latinas just 55 cents for every collar a white, non-Hispanic man earns.

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