Equal Pay Still Years Away for Florida Women "Cultural Shift Needed"
Posted April 4, 2017 08:55 am | Public News Service
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Many women across the country will rally today in support of equal pay, but a new report finds many obstacles to that goal in Florida and nationwide.
The
Institute for
Women's Policy Research analyzed earning trends
going back decades and predicts that at the current
pace, the gender wage gap won't close in this country
until 2059.
Senior research associate Julie Anderson, says when you break down the projections by state, Florida actually will be the first to close the gap, but that's not necessarily good news.
"Women can catch up with men in Florida pretty quickly because men's earnings are relatively low compared to men in other states," she said. "So, it's not hard to catch up to the lower bar."
She says most of the other states projected to close the
gap first, such as California, will do so because they
have more family-friendly laws on the books, and a lower
percentage of women working in low-wage jobs.
According to the report, in 13 states, a woman born
today would not see equal pay during her working life.
Terry Sanders heads the Florida National Organization
for Women, which has long pushed for a higher minimum
wage, equal-pay laws and paid family and medical leave.
She says the state needs not just a shift in policy but
in policymakers.
"Women are 51 percent of the population in the U.S. now,
and yet when it comes to the Legislature, there's
another example of where it's really disproportionate,"
she explained.
Sanders says she hopes high-profile wage discrimination
cases, such as those involving the U.S. women's soccer
and ice hockey teams, will help raise awareness of the
issue and contribute to what she calls a much-needed
cultural shift.
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