Andy Barr And Elisabeth Jensen Discuss Closing Gender Pay Gap

According to the National Partnership for Women and Families: compared to men, women in the U.S. earn 78 cents on the dollar.   Republican Congressman Andy Barr and his Democratic challenger Elisabeth Jensen believe in equal pay for equal work, but they disagree on how to get there. 

Jensen believes gender pay discrimination exists at every level of the work force.  It’s an issue she’s passionate about, because she says she’s a victim. 

She told us a story from years ago when she managed a division for a large company.  The setting for the story was that she was having lunch with a male manager who had a similar job description, but oversaw fewer people. 

"When I told him how much money I was making he looked at me, he laughed, and he punched me in the shoulder.  He said, ‘You big schmuck even Steve makes more money than you do’ and his division was smaller than both of ours," said Jensen.

Jensen said her boss at the time told her she didn’t need the money, because she didn’t have kids yet.  She promises to fight pay discrimination, and she supports a bill called the Paycheck Fairness Act.  Barr does not support that proposal.

"Well there are two laws that are currently on the books that prohibit discrimination against women in the workplace and those are important laws, but what we need to focus on is making sure that not only women get equal pay for equal work, but that we grow our economy," said Barr. 

The Paycheck Fairness Act would make employers liable in lawsuits for pay discrimination based on an employees’ sex.  Barr said we don’t need more lawsuits.