MONROE, La. – March 24 was equal pay day and Louisiana has one of the largest gender wage gaps in the country.
A report done by the National Partnership for Women and Families, said women in Louisiana make $0.69 for every dollar a Louisiana man makes.
It also said Louisiana women make 73.6% of what men earn nationwide.
Back in 2013, Louisiana lawmakers passed the Equal Pay for Women Act requiring female state workers to be paid the same as men for the same job.
Multiple efforts to expand that to women in the public sector have since failed.
“Yes, I think it’s a sad indication that this issue isn’t really at the top of policy makers’ agenda, the front of their brains, when they think about what type of society and economy we want,” said Ariane Hegewisch from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
Hegewisch said the Institute for Women’s Policy is working on research to push a national equal pay law forward, but says the minimum wage can also help.
“If we had minimum wage, a higher minimum wage, that would very largely benefit women, because women are more likely to work the jobs that are now at a very low pay,” said Hegewisch.
The institute said if this continues, women in Louisiana won’t have equal pay until 2115.
The Vice President of Business and Professional Women in Monroe, said equal pay for Louisiana women in particular is important because the state has a lot of single parent homes.
“We have so many children living in poverty and a lot of that is because a lot of women, single women are raising these families and if they can be paid equally, that could bring women and children out of poverty in this state,” said Temika Loyd Cooks.
Hegewisch said at this rate, it’ll take more than 200 years for Latinas to catch up with the earnings of a white man and 100 years for black women.
