For Immediate Release
March 31, 2020
Contact: Katherine Levasseur
(802) 828-2245
SPEAKER MITZI JOHNSON’S STATEMENT ON EQUAL PAY DAY 2020
“Today is Equal Pay Day, the symbolic day dedicated to recognizing the gender pay gap as it is the date in 2020 that symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in 2019. The wage gap in Vermont is 16 cents per every dollar earned. For many women with disabilities and women of color, the wage gap is even more pronounced.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is exposing the economic inequality that is rampant in our state and our country. I am increasingly concerned about the workers who are unable to work from home, those that are pushed out of their already low-wage hourly jobs, and those that are now forced to juggle childcare, schooling children, and working from home. Some workers are able to work from home and pay for childcare, but others are facing income and job loss, food and housing insecurity, and painful, heartbreaking choices between their jobs and their income, or their family’s health and safety.
“We can and must get through this, and we must connect Vermonters to the resources they need to get through this crisis. We must all work together to create a Vermont that works for all of us, not just the privileged few. And we can do that by fighting for equality and economic security for all.
“On this Equal Pay Day, let us recognize the work of the changemakers who came before us, those that are fighting for equality today, and those who will continue fighting in the future.”
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