“Requiring federal contractors to disclose (salary and demographic data) will be a tremendous step forward in helping close the wage gap,” said Vicki Shabo, vice president at the National Partnership for Women and Families.

“We know that millions of women in virtually every occupation are paid less than men,” says Vicki Shabo, a vice president at the National Partnership for Women and Families. “The gender pay gap wage differential is a tremendous and enduring problem, not just for women being paid less but for families’ economic security. This has lasting impacts throughout the year.”

A 2013 report from the National Partnership for Women & Families found that Seattle has the largest gender wage gap among big U.S. cities.

“Any wage gap between men and women has impacts for families,” said Vicki Shabo, vice president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, a Washington-based advocacy group. “It’s dollars and cents. It’s putting food on the table. It’s being able to afford mortgage and rent payments.”

“Unfair wages cause real and lasting harm to women, the families they support, and to our economy,” said Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Woman and Families.

“The wage gap is simply unacceptable. We must do much more to end discrimination so we no longer deny millions of women the fair pay they need and deserve,” Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families said in a statement.

Vicki Shabo, Director of Work and Family Programs at the National Partnership for Women & Families, says the same factors–non-linear careers, greater responsibilities at home, and outright discrimination–that maintain the wage gap in lower-earning professions are shaping the conversation around compensation in top-tier professions as well.

When Seattle mayor Mike McGinn read the April issued report from the National Partnership for Women and Families, he found that Seattle had the widest gender wage gap out of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the country.

“As a nation, we must do more to close the wage gap, which is present in every part of the country, regardless of women’s occupation, education or work patterns,” said Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families.