While Representative McBath Fights for Equal Pay, Republican Retread Karen Handel Can’t Handle the Facts and Doesn’t Believe In Equal Pay for Equal Work

Representative Lucy McBath voted today to pass H.R. 7, the Paycheck Fairness Act – a landmark bill that strengthens the rights of working women and ensures transparency and accountability in how women are compensated for their work. The vote comes just days before Equal Pay Day on April 2^nd – a date that underscores the fact that women still only make 80 percent of what their male colleagues make, on average, and only 84 cents on the dollar in Georgia.

While Rep. McBath is fighting for equal pay for hardworking Georgia women, newly declared candidate and Republican retread Karen Handel has a very different record. When asked if she thought the gender wage gap was a problem, Handel said no – because she personally had never experienced it:

“No. Look, I’ve been in the corporate world for virtually my entire career and I’ve never had any disparity like that […] Paid wages are really based on experience, length of time in the particular position or company. All those factors come together.”

More than 55 years after the passage of the Equal Pay Act, women across the country are still making an average of 80 cents on the dollar compared to men. Handel’s past statements against giving working women and their families a raise shows that she will choose special interests over the middle class families no matter what.

“Georgians deserve a representative in Congress who is going to fight to make sure that their hard work pays off – regardless of their gender,” said DCCC spokesperson Mike Gwin. “While Lucy McBath is working in Washington to ensure that women get the pay that they’ve earned, Karen Handel has a long and troubling record of dismissing the pay gap, and the rights of women to be fairly paid for their work.”

The Paycheck Fairness Act is a commonsense measure that would help close the persistent wage gap by protecting employees who discuss salary data from retaliation, streamline the enforcement of existing equal pay laws, and requiring employers to prove that any pay disparities at their companies are job-related and not on the basis of gender.

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