This is a draft of a potential op-ed that you may use as needed. I don’t have the update on Florida’s Helen Gordon Davis Fair Pay Protection Act bill yet. I am waiting on that update and announcement before sending this in:
AAUW’s annually updated publication, The Simple Truth About the Gender Pay Gap, (http://bit.ly/1baHZaW) has come out and the big news is—there is no change. The difference between typical (median) salaries for full-time men and women workers is the same as last year: women made only 80% of what men made. The data for this comparison comes from the Department of the Census and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and it includes all occupations. However, the AAUW report includes some information about the pay gap within occupations: the earnings ratio in financial managers is 69%, while in registered nurses it is 91% (yes, male nurses make more!)
State-level statistics are available, and Florida scores well on them, with women in Florida earning 87% of typical male salaries. But what could a woman or family do with the $5,474 difference between the median male salary of $41,586 and the median female salary of $36,112? The pay gap affects families: over 40% of women function as primary or co-breadwinners in their families.
Closing the pay gap would reduce poverty. In Florida, there are almost a million family households with a female householder and no husband present. 25 percent of these households statewide are below the poverty level. In District 4 (Rutherford), there are 26,882 such households, representing 14% of all families, with 16% below the poverty level. In District 5 (Lawson), things are worse: 53,545 female householders representing 34% of all families, with 29% of them below poverty level.
To close the pay gap, we need to encourage young women to choose better-paying careers, encourage employers to analyze their pay structure with an eye to equity, and pass legislation prohibiting factors that generate the pay gap. Since 1963, equal pay for equal work has been the law, but it is difficult to prove because of lack of salary transparency and the ease of making excuses for pay differences.
AAUW Advocacy in Florida 