April 24th is Equal Pay Day.

Note from Beth: The following fact based article is the first of a continuing series of contributions from wise and valued members of our Local Organization, Business and Professional Women of Monroe/West Monroe. Thank You Angie!!

Angie Jackson-Wilson is the CEO of AJW Event Planning. She is the 2007 National Membership Chair for Business and Professional Women/USA and the Immediate Past State President of the Louisiana Federation of Business and Professional Women.

April 24th is Equal Pay Day. That is the day in April every year—this year the 24th—when women’s earnings finally catch up with what men made by December 31 of the previous year. Business and Professional Women/USA will be among the women’s groups, led by the National Committee on Pay Equity, rallying on Capitol Hill to call attention to the issue.

The pay gap is still a stubborn problem, with women who work full time, year-round making 76 cents to a man’s dollar. It consistently polls number one with female voters in election years, yet politicians do not seem motivated to do much about it.

The Louisiana Federation of Business and Professional Women has been the leading organization working with State Representative Willie Hunter (Monroe) on legislation to address the issue of unequal pay since the first was introduced in the State Legislature in 2005.

It is significant to note the Louisiana Commission on Women’s Policy & Research in its last two reports to the respective governors has cited the disparity in earnings yet each time the bill has been introduce it has failed to pass the House.

The following quotes were taken directly from those reports:

“Thus, despite some improvement, on almost every measure of women’s status,
the ranking of Louisiana women, compared to women nationally, places Louisiana among the worst ten states for women to live, work, and raise families. The earnings disparity between women and men remains, and more women are likely to be poor because they are women. Black women are more likely than white women to be unemployed and to be without health insurance.”

The Louisiana Women's Policy and Research Commission (2003)
Third Annual Report to the Honorable M. J. “Mike” Foster, Jr. Governor, State of Louisiana (read the first four or 5 pages)
http://www.la-womenspolicy.com/site100-01/1001583/docs/2003_annual_report.pdf

“This index combines four indicators of women’s economic status: women’s earnings, the wage gap, women’s representation in managerial and professional jobs, and women’s participation in the labor force. While women’s earnings and wage gap vary substantially from state to state, in every state some wage gap exists. Louisiana ranks 50th among the states in its composite score – pulled low by median annual earnings full-time, year-round for employed women; its earnings ratio between women and men; and the percent of women in its labor force.
Women in Louisiana, who work full-time, year-round earn on average 66% of Louisiana men’s earnings – more than 10% less than the national average for women nationally. White women’s earnings are 37% higher than African American women’s earnings, and approximately 13% higher than Asian and Hispanic women’s earnings. Louisiana women are below the U.S. average for women in educational attainment at every level, and below the educational attainment level of Louisiana men at the higher educational levels.
However, the wage gap does not disappear when the educational level of women and men is the same. In fact, it increases slightly. Thus, it is not solely education that accounts for the differences in wages between women and men in Louisiana or elsewhere.

Women and men are not rewarded equally for their educational attainment. In today’s labor market, women with a bachelor’s degree earn about $148 per week more than a man with a high school education; while a woman with a master’s degree earns about $137 less than a man earns with a bachelor’s degree.”

The Louisiana Commission on Women’s Policy & Research (2004)
Annual Report to Governor Kathleen Blanco, presented by the Governor’s Office on Women’s Policy. (pages 26 and 27)
http://www.la-womenspolicy.com/site100-01/1001583/docs/2004_annual_report_final.pdf
Many business and industry association have registered opposition to this measure, citing the fear of frivolous lawsuits. Martha Burk summed up this fear.
She quotes, “While there’s no law now that says companies have to disclose how they pay and promote their workers, there’s no law that says they can’t. Wal-Mart agreed last year under stockholder pressure to post its EEO-1 form online; showing broad job categories by race and gender, (the form does not include pay data). Some disclosure is better than none, but all companies should go a step further and release pay data for women and men by job category, as Ben & Jerry’s has done for years. If pay scales are equitable, there should be nothing to hide. Women could see right up front if the company is fair. It would eliminate the need for lawsuits, and create tremendous employee loyalty and customer good will. That ought to be worth 24 extra cents in the pay envelope.”
Martha Burk is a political psychologist and director of the Corporate Accountability Project for the National Council of Women's Organizations.