A new report shows Washington ranks 33rd in the nation for the pay disparity between women and men. Washington employers pay men over $10,000 more per year than women for similar work.
The pay gap in all 50 states is significant and in some states it reaches over $16,000 per year. In the course of an entire career, this amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars that is taken away from women, while serving in the same positions as men.
HB 1646, The Equal Pay Opportunity Act, proposed by my colleague Rep. Tana Senn and co-sponsored by me, is one of the main moves forward to end the significant pay inequality women face in the workplace.
There’s a great piece from Huffington Post on the gender pay equity problem:
Other recent research paints an even more discouraging picture. In 2013, women made just 78 percent of what men were paid, on average, according to the Census Bureau. The gender pay gap has narrowed since the 1970s. But at the current rate, it will take 75 years for women to have equal pay, a July report from Oxfam found.
