Vive la Equal Pay

by Donna Jablonski, Feb 28, 2006

France’s Parliament has adopted equal pay legislation to wipe out pay inequality between men and women by 2010 through collective bargaining, according to BNA’s Daily Labor Report (subscription). The legislation also strengthens protections for women who take maternity leave. Last year, French President Jacques Chirac called gender-based pay inequality “unacceptable” and vowed to attack it. BNA reports.

The new equal opportunity law aims to close the gap between male and female pay through mandatory collective bargaining at the company or sectoral level over the coming three years.…The law leaves open the possibility that sanctions could be used against employers that fail to launch equal opportunity negotiations.

French women earn about 20 percent less than men for equal work, on average. U.S. women earned 76 cents for every dollar paid to men in 2004. Over a lifetime of work, the 24 cents-on-the-dollar U.S. women are losing adds up: The average 25-year-old working woman will lose about $455,000 to unequal pay during her working life.

It’s time for equal pay here, too. Find out more about equal pay.

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