Employers in Louisiana might soon be legally required to pay women as much as their male counterparts if Gov. Bobby Jindal signs a new bill into law.
Senate Bill 153 by Sen. Edwin Murray, D-New Orleans, requires employers to pay equal wages to men and women and allows women to report unfair wages.
This is a great step toward equality and equal pay for women should be a top priority.
But more needs to be done.
Women’s groups around the state are praising the bill and have been fighting for an equal merit system like this for years. The original bill would have applied to the private sector as well, but was changed on the Senate floor to apply only to women in the state government workforce.
“The proponents of this bill really do believe it should apply to all employers but they thought this was a good first step,” Murray said.
Once again, while this is a great step for female state employees in the state of Louisiana, there’s still a long way to go. According to a study by the American Association of University Women, Louisiana women currently make 69 cents to a man’s dollar. This is not only less than the national average, but is second to last in the nation. These statistics are even worse for Latinas and women of color.
Over the course of a woman’s lifetime, that unearned money can add up to almost half a million dollars, the study found.
But in 2012, women made up 58.6 percent of the workforce in America and held most of the bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the country, according to the Department of Labor. While not every woman in America is paid unequally, most entry-level positions in the workforce give higher pay to men despite women having the same education and skills to fill the job.
Overall, equal pay for women is more than just a human rights issue. Millions of American families depend on a woman’s paycheck. About two-thirds of mothers in this country account for at least a quarter of their family’s earnings, and in many families, the woman is the sole breadwinner, according to a 2013 study by Prudential Financial.
President Barack Obama recently said in a press conference on National Equal Pay Day that “equal pay will strengthen our families, grow our economy and enable the best ideas and boldest innovations to flourish. Let us resolve to become a nation that values the contributions of our daughters as much as those of our sons, denies them no opportunity and sets no limits on their dreams.”
These are inspiring words, but there is still not enough action to counter the gap created by the current pay rate.
So how do we fix a problem that has persisted for years?
First off, more legislation like this needs to be passed nationwide on state and federal levels. Second, more companies should support paid maternity leaves for new mothers. A recent Rutgers study stated that “paid family leave increases wages for women with children because women who take leave lasting for a month or more are 54 percent more likely to have wage increases the following year than those who don’t take any leave.”
The study proved that better pay and benefits in companies are directly correlated to a continued work history. Lawmakers both in Louisiana and Washington should focus on legislation that forces companies to provide some type of paid maternal leave and give monetary help to parents and single mothers for affordable daycare and early education.
Unfortunately the wage gap isn’t an easy issue to fix.
However, the government can make small steps in the right direction.
Elizabeth Garcia is a 21-year-old mass communication junior from Greensboro, N.C.
