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). 

Said Linda D. Hallman, executive director of the American Association of University Women:

We are presenting Congress with this very visible reminder of the wage gap’s effects on women and families because Congress has refused time and again to make passing the Paycheck Fairness Act a priority. We hope members of Congress enjoy the M&M's—but that they do so while figuring out how to immediately move the Paycheck Fairness Act forward.

The lobbying day by members of the Paycheck Fairness Coalition that includes the AFL-CIO and the Coalition of Labor Union Women was in conjunction with the 50th anniversary on June 10 of the Equal Pay Act, which the Paycheck Fairness Act would strengthen.

Fifty years after the act was signed, women still earn an average of just 77 cents on the dollar as compared to men’s earnings. For African American women, that number is 64 cents. For Hispanic women, that number is even lower at 55 cents. ( Read more about the wage gap between men and women—including its impact on women of color—from Joy-Ann Reid on The Grio .)

When women bring home less money each day, it means they have less for the everyday needs of the families—groceries, rent, child care and doctors’ visits. As this video (below) from the Democrats of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce shows, wage gap could cost a woman up to $2 million toward retirement over a lifetime.

Other groups on Capitol Hill today included the Alliance for Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union, Jewish Women International, MomsRising, the National Council of Jewish Women, the National Council of Women’s Organizations, the National Partnership for Women and Families, the National Women’s Law Center, UltraViolet and 9to5.