But what it means is subject to debate. We're not saying government should evaluate all jobs and decide who gets paid what. But within companies or enterprises, jobs are evaluated all the time. We just want to take the discrimination out of the pay scales. And since women are paid less now, they'll have fewer savings and smaller pensions than men later on, says the labor organization.
Organized labor says the disparity is even wider for African-American women and Latina women.
Opposing views Not so fast, say observers at the nonprofit, nonpartisan Washington-based Employment Policy Foundation. In the authors' view, the gender pay gap has been exaggerated. It's mostly women's choices and the realities of men's and women's respective roles in society. It's mostly discrimination. Roles can be shared or reversed and women can be as valued equally with men on the job.