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State Rep. Teresa Fedor pushes for state recognition of gender equality in the workplace

Resolution would recognize April 14 as "Equal Pay Day"
April 14, 2015
Democratic Newsroom

State Rep. Teresa Fedor today offered a resolution recognizing April 14th as Equal Pay Day in Ohio.  This date points out the inequality that exists in Ohio’s workforce and symbolizes how long, on average, a woman must work into a new year to match her male counterpart’s previous year’s earnings.  

“Bringing attention to paycheck inequality is critically important – we must honor equal pay for equal work,” said Fedor.  “If we allow the unfairness of wage equality to persist, we are shortchanging the full earning potential of Ohio’s families.

Women now comprise half the U.S. workforce and two-thirds of mothers bring home at least a quarter of their families’ earnings. In Ohio, women who are employed as full-time and year-round workers earn 77% of the wages that men in the state earn.  In Ohio women earned, on average, a salary of $35,984 compared to $46,789 for men – a difference of $10,805.  New research calculates that the pay inequity shortfall in women’s earnings is about $210,000 over a 35-year working life. For minorities and women of color, the wage gap looms even larger. Women continue to earn less than men even if they have similar educational levels and work in similar kinds of jobs – working just as hard but struggling to get ahead.

Although gender pay disparity has narrowed over time, U.S. Census Bureau statistics show stagnation in recent years. It will take 43 years, until 2058 for men and women to reach parity in pay if the pace of change in the annual earnings ratio continues at the same rate as it has since 1960.