This afternoon, Louisiana’s full Senate considers the Equal Pay Act, which seeks a way to close the gender pay gap. Louisiana women earn — on average -- 65 cents for every dollar Louisiana men earn.
“We know we’re not doing something right, if we’re on the bottom – 51 out of 50 states and Washington, D.C.,” says Julie Schwam Harris with the Legislative Agenda for Women. “If we’re not making progress, we know that the law that currently exists is not adequate for us.”
Louisiana’s gender pay gap has been growing about a penny per year lately.
“This needs to happen now because women are losing financially, “ Harris says, noting that the average woman loses about $17,000 per year. “In the case of African-American women, a million dollars over the lifetime of their careers, due to this gap.”
Census data shows African-American women here earn 48 cents to the male dollar, and Hispanic women receive 51 cents, comparably.
What seems to be the reason for women’s pay not keeping up or catching up to men? Harris says some research has endeavored to figure that out, and have come up with what is termed the “motherhood penalty”.
“Sociologists who study these employment-type trends have noticed that women who are mothers find it harder to get a job in the first place. They find it harder to get pay increases. And they work for less money – on average – than women who aren’t mothers. It’s like a penalty for being a mother. But fathers tend to be rewarded in the workplace, looked at as potentially great employees. And this is, you know, keeping all other things equal.”
When this measure, SB 254, was heard in committee, business groups like the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry and the National Federation of Independent Business vigorously opposed it.
“The Equal Pay Act of 1963 applies to all business owners. We don’t feel additional legislation is necessary,” Dawn Starns with NFIB testified.
Camille Moran heads the Louisiana chapter of the American Association of University Women, whose parent organization calculates the national and state-by-state pay gap each year. She disagrees with Starns.
“The Equal Pay Act of 1963 is basically ineffective –what we consider toothless,” Moran says. “It was enacted 53 years ago. There were loopholes in it and there were a lot of important measures left out that should have been put in.”
Governor John Bel Edwards supports the Equal Pay Act, and has made it part of his legislative agenda. When asked about business group opposition he said, “It doesn’t make sense to me. The fact that we’re dead last in the country – that’s not good for business either.”
Coincidentally, today is what’s known as “Equal Pay Day” -- the time when women’s pay finally catches up to what men earned in the previous calendar year.