Taking action to improve gender wage equality and boost worker protections, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. Tuesday joined dozens of state and local leaders, women and girls at the Rosie the Riveter National Historical Park to sign SB 358 by Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), the bipartisan California Fair Pay Act.
“Sixty-six years after passage of the California Equal Pay Act, many women still earn less money than men doing the same or similar work,” said Gov. Brown. “This bill is another step toward closing the persistent wage gap between men and women.”
The equal pay legislation, among the strongest in the nation, received broad support from both Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature.
“Today is a momentous day for California, and it is long overdue. Equal pay isn’t just the right thing for women, it’s the right thing for our economy and for California,” said Senator Jackson, chair of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus. “Families rely on women’s income more than ever before. Because of the wage gap, our state and families are missing out on $33.6 billion dollars a year. That money could be flowing into families’ pocketbooks, into our businesses and our economy. After years of dealing with a persistent wage gap, and an equal pay law that has been on the books since 1949, but that is not as strong as it should be, the time is now for women’s paychecks to finally reflect their hard work and true value.”