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The average woman only makes 78 cents for every dollar her male counterpart makes in the same field.

In Michigan, that gap is even larger with women earning four cents per dollar less than the national average.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-12th District) is hoping to close that gap with her recently introduced Paycheck Fairness Act.

“The time has come that this bill needs to get passed,” Dingell said. “It provides for the same remedies that is currently provided for discrimination based on age and race.”

The Paycheck Fairness Act would add those protections to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which was originally signed into law by President John F. Kennedy.

Those pay gaps add up to real world dollars and cents when looking at what could be bought. It’s an average differential of more than $13,000, or 107 weeks worth of groceries; 11 months worth of mortage and utility bills; 17 months of rent or 4,000 gallons of gas.

“In the real world this matters,” Dingell said.

Dingell was joined by Karla Swift, president of the Michigan AFL-CIO; Anne Gautreau, president of the American Association of University Women-Dearborn; and Diane Keller, executive director of the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional Chamber in a press conference to call attention to the act.

“Woman have to work for more three months of the calendar year before they finally catch up to men with what they were paid for the previous year,” Dingell said. “While woman are playing a key role in the workforce, women aren’t being paid equal pay for equal work.”

All four women touted the need to join a union to force equal pay, and said those that aren’t able to join unions are forced to suffer through much lower wages. The average female union worker makes 11 percent more than her non-union counterpart.

“Here in Michigan, the home of Rosie the Riveter … woman rank 36 in the country in terms of employment and earnings,” Swift said.

According to Swift, the wage gap is on pace to be closed by 2086, a time frame that isn’t acceptable.

“For Michigan women and their families this is just unacceptable,” she said.

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