Keep the Change

In AAUW last week, I heard about an old enemy and a new friend.

The old enemy is the "Pay Gap." I remember wearing 59 cents buttons back in the day when we talked about the Equal Rights Amendment. I'd lost track of the number since then. It's 78. That's the number of cents the average college-educated U.S. woman earns to the average college-educated U.S. man's 100 cents.

Men start their careers with a slight earnings edge over women, according to the U.S. Census Bureau Intelligence Report, January 2009. The difference eventually mushrooms to an average of more than $20,000 per year. Here's the spread:

Age National Average Salary

15-24 Women: $23,357
Men: $26,100

25-44 Women: $42,558
Men: $55,286

45-64 Women: $44,808
Men: $67,040

Closer to home, Minnesota ranks 14th among the 50 states and North Dakota 46th in pay equity between the median annual earnings of men and women with a college degree or higher, according to an AAUW Educational Foundation analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, 2005, 2006, and 2007 Annual Social and Economic Supplement for Median Earnings and Educational Attainment.

In Minnesota, median annual earnings for men stood at $63,000 and for women at $49,000 between 2004 and 2006. In North Dakota, median annual income for men was $51,000 and for women $41,000 during the same time period.

That gave Minnesota an "earnings gap" of 77 percent and ranking of 20 among states. North Dakota had a gap of 79 percent and a ranking of 11. The national average is 78 percent.

In Minnesota, 32 percent of women and 35 percent of men had a four-year college degree, ranking 8th highest among the 50 states. North Dakota had 28 percent of both women and men with four-year degrees, ranking 18th. The national percentage is 29 percent of men and 27 percent of women.

The New Friend

My new friend is the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 182/H.R. 12). The National Women's Law Center fact sheet offers a list of ways in which the bill would update and strengthen the Equal Pay Act.

In the U.S. House, it was introduced January 2009 by then-Senator Hillary Clinton and Rep. Rosa DeLauro to strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963. The bill expands damages under the Equal Pay Act and amends its very broad fourth affirmative defense. In addition, the Paycheck Fairness Act calls for a study of data collected by the EEOC and proposes voluntary guidelines to show employers how to evaluate jobs with the goal of eliminating unfair disparities. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives on January 9, 2009.

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) co-sponsored this bill in the Senate, where it remains. You can track it at OpenCongress.

Want your voice heard? Send a postcard to Congress through AAUW's "Keep the Change" initiative. You don't need to be a member of AAUW to send one.

Another Opportunity
A friend told me she had applied for a position with a package delivery service and had passed all of their tests. She was the only woman in the testing group and as such thought she would be hired on the basis of minority status. She was told she was not hired because the job was given to a man with a family to support. Unfortunately, this incident was not back in the dark ages, but only a few years ago.

So, we have 24 cents to go for pay, along with a long road to correct heartland attitudes about women as breadwinners.

Read "A New Push for Equal Pay" from Parade Magazine.
Here's a quiz to see just how much you know about pay equity.