After failures in past sessions, Louisiana lawmakers are once again fighting for gender pay equality.
Senate Bill 68 by Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D- New Orleans, prohibits employers from paying an employee less than what another employee of the opposite sex is paid for similar work.
This law only applies to public employees, or state employees, but not to elected officials and part-time National Guard employees with periodic duty.
The legislation states, “The proposed law provides that the public policy of this state is declared to be that paying unequal wages based on sex unjustly discriminates against the person receiving the lesser rate, leads to low morale, threatens the well-being of the citizens of this state and adversely affects the general welfare.”
According to a source inside Peterson’s office, the bill was proposed so that the state can set an example for private employers and should be enacted immediately, although the business lobby has shut down similar bills in the past.
Summer Steib, director of the University Women’s Center, said the Women’s Center is tackling pay inequality by partnering with Career Services to teach women how to negotiate their first salaries when on the post-graduate job hunt.
The Women’s Center held a workshop to teach students how to properly negotiate salaries and give them the tools to change the gender pay gap problems.
“While much of the pay gap can’t be explained, women start off with less because of initial negotiation,” Steib said.
According to a study by the American Association of University Women, Louisiana is ranked second-to-last in gender pay gap equality.
The study shows that in Louisiana, the median annual earnings and earnings ratio for full-time, year-round workers differ by 69 percent, meaning a woman would make 69 cents for every dollar a man makes.
Steib said this problem can be partially alleviated with higher initial negotiations.
“The higher that first salary is, the higher you can set your trajectory,” Steib said.
Steib said because there has been a national push for pay equality, like President Barack Obama signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, state legislators feel there is no need for localized legislation.
Additionally, women are not encouraged to take higher paying jobs, such as those in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, Steib said.
This March, during Women’s History Month, Steib said one of the themes and messages was to emphasize women in STEM fields.
STEM jobs are the highest paying, but they are mostly dominated by males, so there is already a gap in the expected salaries, Steib said.
“The higher that first salary is, the higher you can set your trajectory.”
