; Whereas women hold nearly two-thirds of the Nation’s $1,700,000,000,000 in outstanding student loan debt, totaling over $929,000,000,000, and are less likely to be able to pay off their student loan debt promptly due to wage disparities; Whereas the wage gap impacts women’s ability to save for retirement and women’s total Social Security and pension benefits, and older women are more likely than men to live in poverty; Whereas sex discrimination in education, hiring, and promotion has played a role in maintaining a workforce segregated by sex; Whereas sex-based wage differentials— (1) depress employee wages and living standards necessary for health and well-being; (2) reduce family incomes and contribute to the higher poverty rates among women and their families; and (3) prevent the effective and maximum utilization of available labor resources; Whereas a wage gap exists in nearly every occupational field, but opening traditionally male-dominated jobs to women and reducing occupational segregation by sex increases earnings for women; Whereas nearly two-thirds of workers paid the minimum wage or less are women, and the concentration of women in low-wage jobs is a significant contributor to the wage gap; Whereas the gender wage gap between union women and men is about half the size of the wage gap between nonunion women and men, and women union members typically earn $214 more per week than women who are not represented by unions; Whereas, as much as 38 percent of the wage gap is unexplained by observable factors such as variation in educational attainment, industry, and occupation, and may reflect discrimination; Whereas two-thirds of private sector workers report that employers either prohibit or discourage them from discussing their pay, which can keep the existence of pay discrimination hidden and prevent remedying that discrimination