our next presenter is heidi heartman, dr. heartman is the president of the washington based institute for women's policy research, an organization she form ed in 1987 to meet the need for women-centered policy oriented research. she's an economist and also a research professor at the george washington university and holds a ph.d. from yale university. dr. hearthman has published numerous articles and journals and books, and her work has been transmitted into more than one dozen languages. she offer lectures on women, economics, policy, including social security and retirement, and has frequently testified before the u.s. congress and is often cited as an authority in various media outlets such as cnn news and "the washington post" and "the new york times." in 1994 dr. heartman was the recipient of a mcarthur fellowship for her work in the field of women and economics. for those who aren't familiar with that award, it is a very, very special award. so thank you, heidi, for being here. >> good morning, everyone. i want to thank

heidi heartman. she's also a research professor at george washington university. thank you for being here. i really appreciate it. >> you're welcome. it's a pleasure. thank you. >> i know that you at the women's institute for women's policy you have done some of the most important and most highly publicized work on this issue. is there any way that the idea of a general based pay disparity is something that depends on how you look at it? is this something other than a blunt truth about the american economy? >> you have the better part of the argument. you've got the census bureau and the bureau of labor statistics agreeing with you and the u.s. general accountability office. i think what the issue is for the republicans is that they believe that that's not, no matter how big the wage gap is none of it is due to discrimination. these numbers from bls and census bureau are not talking about discrimination but the gao study just did. even if you put everything you can think of in the regression equations, the analysis to try to make the gap go away, you still can't e