Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday said that, if elected president, he would sign an executive order to guarantee equal pay for women and men athletes — despite glaring discrepancies in pay in his administration.
De Blasio, speaking on CNN before the ticker-tape parade in the Canyon of Heroes for the US women’s soccer team, said he would insist that Congress pass an amendment to the Amateur Sports Act “requiring equal pay for men and women in all of our national sports teams.”
If that failed, de Blasio, a Democratic presidential candidate, said he would sign an executive order “to force” the US Soccer Federation to ensure equal pay.
He would also support the Fairness Paycheck Act that requires employers to report annual pay data and justify differences in pay.
But, as The Post reported on Sunday, there’s a gender pay gap at the top of his administration.
Although women make up half of City Hall’s 10 highest earners, the men — including de Blasio — hold four of the five best-paying jobs, with annual salaries that range from $258,000 to $403,000, records show.
Because of that, men in the administration earn an average of $58,400 a year more than their female colleagues, leaving the women earning just 81 cents for every dollar earned by the men.
Hizzoner was asked by The Post about the pay discrepancy in City Hall.
“The numbers are so clear, we have an administration that’s over 50% women in the top positions, absolute equity in the top positions, there’s a handful of higher-paid positions, at this moment in history some are men and some are women,” he said.
The issue of equal pay arose when it was revealed that the US women’s soccer team earns less than the men’s team even though they’ve won four World Cup championships since the early 1990s while the men have won zero.
The women’s team defeated the Netherlands on Sunday to win their latest championship.
“They are heroes in more than one way,” de Blasio said on CNN. “These women are not just heroes on the field, they are leading a discussion in America and demanding change we need.”