Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), along with Congresswoman Janice Hahn (CA-44) and Congresswoman Grace F. Napolitano (CA-32),  last week hosted an economic agenda forum for women and families with more than 200 women in attendance at the City of Commerce City Hall to address issues as pay equality, work and life balance, wellness and childcare policies. “Today nearly half of all workers in America are women, and 40 percent of working women are the primary breadwinners in their families,” said Roybal-Allard. “It is unacceptable that women on average receive 77 cents for every dollar paid to male workers.”

“Some experts predict it will take 45 years before women’s earnings reach parity with men’s and that it will take even longer for Black and Latina women whose median wages increase more slowly than women overall. America’s women and their families cannot afford to wait nearly half a century to reach wage parity and receive equal pay for equal work,” asserted Roybal-Allard.

“Today, women across the country are facing unprecedented economic insecurity,” said Hahn. “Right now, 42 million women and the 28 million children who rely on them are living in poverty or on the brink of poverty. Too many of us in this room know what it means to live paycheck to paycheck and not have the flexibility at work to care for your family.”

“I personally know how hard it is to be a working mother, especially a single working mother,” said Hahn. “For years, I struggled to balance work and time with my three kids. Before I was an LA City Councilwoman, I worked a 9 to 5 job and it was a constant struggle to fulfill my obligations as an employee and as a mother of young children. Women should not have to choose between her job and her family. Now is the time to enact and support legislation that will protect the work and family balance for all working families.”

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Published: April 10, 2014 - Volume 12 - Issue 52