Apr 7, 2013 2 min read

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Women in this country are paid only 77 cents for every dollar a man is paid, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This despite the fact that the Equal Pay Act was passed way back in 1963.

And for all the wonderful progress we’ve made as a nation in the last 50 years, here it is, 2013, and women still make considerably less than their male counterparts for working the exact same jobs. Honestly, we wish we didn’t have to write this letter again as we did last year and the year before, but here we are.

That’s why, on Tuesday, thousands of women from across the United States will join in a national day of action against unfair pay called Equal Pay Day. In Pittsburgh, a noon rally is planned in Market Square with speakers, food, and a renewed commitment to bridging the wage gap in the years to come. Additional rallies are planned in Greensburg and Uniontown.

At a time when America’s economy is facing a prolonged downturn, every penny counts. Economist Evelyn Murphy, president and founder of The WAGE Project, estimates that the wage gap costs the average American full-time woman worker between $700,000 and $2 million over the course of her lifetime. As working women, we are extremely concerned about pay inequity not only for ourselves, but for our families, communities, and the regional economy.

Fair pay takes real change! And we can make a difference.

Tara Simmons

Pittsburgh

Mary Jo Podgurski

Washington

Simmons is the vice president of operations for the Pittsburgh-based Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania. Podgurski is the president of the Academy for Adolescent Health in Washington.