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4. We’ve come a long way, but progress has stalled
After strong progress shrinking the pay disparity in the 1980s and 1990s, the improvement has slowed recently.
“Progress has really slowed down and for the last decade or so, change has been modular,” said Ariane Hegewisch, a program director at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR).
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The wage gap did narrow a teeny bit last year. In 2014, women earned 78.6 cents for every dollar a man made.
“Congress has not engaged on this issue in recent years and that may be one reason we haven’t seen a lot of national progress,” said Martin.