WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today marks the 59th anniversary of the signing of the Equal Pay Act. President of EMILY’s List Laphonza Butler released the following statement in observance:

“EMILY’s List was founded to elect Democratic pro-choice women 22 years after the Equal Pay Act was signed. Since then, we have continued the fight to increase representation at every level of government as the struggle for equity continues. While we have gotten closer to pay parity, 59 years after the signing, women still earn on average 83 cents to every dollar white, non-Hispanic men make. The pay gap continues to be even worse for women of color. Republican attacks on abortion rights only make the fight for equity in pay harder, by forcing people out of the work force or into low-paying jobs. Democratic pro-choice women at every level of government work every day to protect the right to choose, but also make legislative decisions that improve pay equity. EMILY’s List is proud of the women we have endorsed who continue to fight to ensure all women are paid what they are worth.”

MILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $700 million to elect Democratic pro-choice women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY's List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running nearly $50 million in independent expenditures in the last cycle alone, and turning out women voters and voters of color to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country's first woman as vice president, 159 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and more than 1,300 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILY’s List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. After the 2016 election, more than 60,000 women reached out to EMILY's List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state, and national offices. In our effort to elect more women in offices across the country, we have created our Run to Win program, expanded our training program, including a Training Center online, and trained thousands of women.

Original source can be found here.