Our Issues
Fair & Equal Pay
Mothers and other family caregivers deserve fair treatment on the job.
Yet too often, discrimination places unfair hurdles in their way, and drags down their earnings, especially for women of color. These lost opportunities and lost wages compound over time, leading to long-term financial harm for caregivers and their families.
A Better Balance fights for strong equal pay laws and wage transparency to level the playing field for women and all caregivers.
Achieving Equal Pay
Mothers are the breadwinner or co-breadwinner in two thirds of American families. Twenty-four percent of children in the U.S. live in single-mother-lead households. Women’s earnings are critical to their families’ economic security and yet women earn, on average, only 78 cents for every dollar their male counterparts are paid, with women of color being paid even less. Working mothers and their families deserve fair pay.
A Better Balance is working with lawmakers and advocates to level the playing field for women and all caregivers.
We are combatting the wage gap by working to advance policies that improve wage transparency, prevent employers from asking about an employee or applicant’s prior salary, and require certain employers to track and report wage data to uncover hidden inequities. We are also on the steering committee of the Equal Pay Today! Campaign, a national network of organizations working to end the gender wage gap.
Fact Sheets & Legal Guides:
- Know Your Rights: A Toolkit on New York State Equal Pay Laws
- Know Your Rights: NYC Salary History Ban Law
- Know Your Rights: The NY Working Woman’s Pocket Guide on Equal Pay
- Fact Sheet: New York State Pay Equity Laws
Testimony & Other Advocacy :
- ABB Testimony: New York State Department of Labor Hearing on the Gender Wage Gap in New York
- State Legislatures Are Blocking Equal Pay
- Why New York Needs a Salary History Ban
Letters of Support:
Workplace Rights Hub
Resource Articles
2/3
of American households rely on mothers for all or a substantial part of their income.
15%
The pay penality low-wage working mothers suffer for each child they bear
