Women advocacy organizations came together with Senate Democrats Tuesday, May 22, to host an hour-long Twitter chat on ensuring equal paychecks for American women by preventing discrimination.
The discussion precedes the reintroduction of the Paycheck Fairness Act to the Senate. Republicans blocked its passage in the Senate two years ago, but Democrats hope to bring it to a vote again soon.
While the Twitter chat was hosted by groups like the American Association of University Women, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Women’s Law Center, MomsRising.org, and the National Council of Jewish Women, among others, Senate Democrats weighed in throughout the hour. Comments came from Sens. Barbara Boxer, Patty Murray, Barbara Mikulski, and Kirsten Gillibrand, among others.
Using the hashtag #EqualPay, the conversation quickly became a trending topic on Twitter in the Washington, D.C., area.
(See our Storify after the jump.)
The Paycheck Fairness Act builds upon the Equal Pay Act and Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act by adding new protections for women against pay discrimination, as well as creating new training programs to work toward eliminating gender pay disparities.