MIDDLETON, WI - Women have played an invaluable role in growing and strengthening Wisconsin’s economy; their hard work, dedication and ingenuity have built strong families, businesses and communities. Yet, women still lack the legal protection to guarantee the pay they deserve.

Equal Pay Day marks how far into the year women on average have to work to catch up to men’s earnings from the previous year. Women in Wisconsin still earn only 79 cents for every dollar a man earns, and we clearly have much more work to do to ensure that women and their families have every opportunity to succeed. We not only need equal pay legislation, but we must also raise the minimum wage, guarantee paid family leave, and ensure access to quality, affordable women’s healthcare -- including access to reproductive care.

Unlike my opponent, the incumbent senator, who believes that equal pay legislation does “more harm than good,” I firmly believe that we must do more to ensure that all of Wisconsin’s women are able to fight pay discrimination. All of the hardworking women in Wisconsin and across the country deserve the respect and dignity of their work.