Arthenia Joyner and Janet Cruz Promote Equal Pay for Women

Two female legislators held a news conference in Tallahassee to highlight "Equal Pay Day" on Tuesday, promoting pay equality for men and women.

Rep. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, joined with Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, to address the public on the importance of pay equality.

Let me try to appeal to the senses of men dont you want your wife to get equal pay for equal work? asked Cruz.

Cruz and Joyner have both filed bills which would require Florida to collect -- and make public information -- about womens pay and conduct a study on the issue of pay equality. Neither bill has received a committee hearing.

The issue has sparked the interest of President Barack Obama, who on Tuesday signed an executive orderinstructing Labor Secretary Tom Perez to establish new regulations requiring federal contractors to submit to the DOL summary data on compensation paid to their employees, including data by race and sex.

"Equal Pay Day means that a woman has to work about this far into 2014 in order to earn what a man earned in 2013," said Obama.

According to the White House, full-time working women earn 77 percent of what their male counterparts earn. This means that women have to work approximately 60 extra days, or about three months, to earn what men did by the end of the previous year.