REPRESENTATIVE SARAH PEAKE'S EQUAL PAY SPEECH

"Massachusetts will make history when this bill is passed. We will be the 1st state in the nation to ban the use of salary history in hiring. Also, no other state has provisions in its laws (with the exception of regulations in the state of Maine) to provide protection for businesses should they do a good faith audit of pay practices and undertake steps to correct discrepancies. Finally the bill will return Mass law to equal pay for comparable work allowing workers in historic pink ghettos to receive the same pay rates as male counterparts for doing work which requires similar skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions regardless of whether the work is identical.

I have been aware of and outraged by pay inequity since about 1975 (the year I graduated from High School). 

I can't believe it has taken so long for  this day to have finally come, but I'm grateful it has. I want to thank all who have worked to bring the bill forward including the Speaker, the gentle lady from Amherst, the gentleman from BeaconHill, and of course the lady from Somerset.

When I vote today, I will be standing on the shoulders of, and giving thanks to, the many feminists who have toiled for decades to get us here."

Rep Sarah Peake

Leader, 3rd Division 

Room 163, State House

Boston, MA 02133

617.722.2040