Colorado Group Pushing For Equal Pay For Women

DENVER (CBS4) – At the Colorado State Capitol a protest group protested the pay gap between men and women on Tuesday.

President Obama is bypassing congress as he tries to shrink the pay gap between men and women.

He recently signed two executive orders meant to help close the gap,

The president pointed to census figures showing women earn 77 cents for every dollar a man earns.

"This is not just an issue of fairness; it's also a family issue and an economic issue, because women make up about half of our workforce," said the president.

The first executive order enables federal contract workers to openly discuss their salaries without employer reprisal.

The second requires federal contractors to report salary data to the labor department broken down by gender and race.

Here in Colorado, a flash mob of Dolly Partons sang that working the same hours as men still isn't fair.

"In Colorado the average woman earns just 80 cents to what their male counterparts earn," said one protestor.

They reminded people that 50 years after the Equal Pay Act, wage discrimination still exists.

The president blamed Republicans for "gumming up the works," but the GOP fought back.

Rep. Eric Cantor referenced reports that women working at the white house earn 88 cents for every dollar a male staffer earns.

"It seems like the white house is having a little problem with this themselves," said Cantor.

The equal pay issue is considered by some a concerted election year push by democrats to attract women.

The senate began debating legislation on Tuesday that would make it easier for Workers to sue companies for paying woman less because of their gender.