Passing out bags of candy-covered chocolates embossed with the wage gap figures, nearly 100 activists today called on Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 84/H.R. 377). 

With the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act coming up June 10, equal pay advocates will be on Capitol Hill tomorrow to tell lawmakers it’s time to strengthen equal pay laws and fulfill the promise of the landmark 1963 Equal Pay Act by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 84/H.R. 377).   

Today is Equal Pay Day, and groups representing working women from around the country are talking about the importance of closing the pay gap, once and for all. 

The National Women's Law Center is hosting a blogger carnival on Equal Pay Day. See the full list of blogs here. 

Emily Crockett is 29 years old. Over her working life, she can expect to lose $443,000 to unequal pay.

You’ve probably heard the statistics: Women get paid 77 cents for every $1 men get paid. The picture is even worse for women of color. And the numbers haven’t budged in more than a decade.

I’ll tell you the truth, I watched the PBS documentary, MAKERS: The Women Who Make America, because one of our top staffers at the AFL-CIO and Working America—Karen Nussbaum—was in it.  I’m so glad I did.  I had forgotten what a steep climb it has been for women in this country.  It wasn’t that long ago women had little or no place in sports, culture, public life, or the workplace.

Child care costs more than college. Mothers with equal résumés are hired less than 80 percent of the time than non-mothers and are offered lower starting salaries. It costs more than $200,000 to raise one child from birth to age 18 (not including college).

All of this is happening every day in the backdrop of a national "Lean In" conversation.

In 2012, the pay gap between women’s and men’s median weekly full-time earnings increased from 2011, reported the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) in new analysis. 

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) embarked on a 200-mile march from Fort Myers, Fla., to Lakeland to raise awareness about the Fair Food movement that has encouraged growers and big tomato buyers (Subway, McDonald’s, Burger King and companies that provide food for dining halls, etc.) to agree to higher wages and other worker protections. The march, which goes from March 3-17, will end at Publix headquarters to put the pressure on supermarket industry leaders who continue to refuse these protections. 

Ending violence against women is something everyone can agree on and shouldn't be controversial. Astonishingly, some Republicans in Congress held up the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) for more than a year because it has protections for Native Americans, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and immigrant women without documents. President Obama just signed VAWA into law yesterday. This Senate-version of the bill was voted down by 138 Republicans in the House. Today, unions across the world are celebrating International Women's Day and raising awareness about violence against women and girls. 

This afternoon, President Obama signed into law the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).