BATON ROUGE – As Louisiana families celebrate Mothers’ Day this weekend, we all take a moment to recognize the profound impact our mothers’ work and their support have made in each of our lives. In light of these universal sentiments, it is all the more appalling to remember that our state ranks 51st in the entire nation when it comes to the pay gap between men and women. Nationally, women bring home .78 for every dollar earned by a man. In Louisiana, our mothers and our daughters are left with even less, earning barely two-thirds of what men take home. It’s embarrassing, it’s insulting, and it has to change. Our moms deserve more.
When given the opportunity to help close the gap last week, nine Louisiana Republicans— including Reps. Clay Schexnayder and Lenar Whitney— voted to kill the bill, denying our mothers and our daughters equal pay for equal work. Women make up nearly half the workforce in our state, but Louisiana scored the lowest of all fifty states as being the absolute worst for working moms. Republicans in the legislature offered weak excuses about market forces, and no relief, for the working mothers whose toil and whose sacrifices we honor this weekend.
“It’s dishonest for Republican lawmakers to be out there this weekend offering their best wishes to mothers in our state when they consistently fight back any effort in the legislature to address unequal pay for women,” said Stephen Handwerk, executive director of the Louisiana Democratic Party. “That’s not giving mothers our best, it’s not giving them what they have earned and what they deserve. Louisiana mothers, and Louisiana families, deserve better.”
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