Despite a half century of attempts to close the gender-based pay chasm, women continue to earn substantially less than men. And it will likely be the mid-21st century before the gap is eliminated.
That's the conclusion of the latest pay gap review by the U.S. Department of Labor. The department took a look at the gap on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Equal Pay Act – the anniversary was Monday – and reported that in some comparisons, women had actually fallen further behind in the past year. Overall, the optimism expressed by the Kennedy administration on the signing of the act hasn't been supported by action in the last decade, it said.
While the DOL crunches the numbers in an array of ways, overall, women make about 80 percent of what men make in apples-to-apples comparisons. Women's earnings as a percent of men's climbed about 5 percent from the late 1990s through 2003. But since then, gains have been miniscule — perhaps a percentage point or two since 2003.
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The findings were particularly galling to the DOL under President Obama, because one of the department's stated goals since Obama took office has been to reduce the difference in income between men and women.
In a blog post on the DOL's site Friday, Dr. Pamela Coukos, senior program advisor with the DOL's Federal Contract Compliance Programs, vented her frustration over the persistence of the gender pay gap.
"Has the gap shrunk at all since last year?" she asked. "Nope. In fact, the data show our progress closing the gender pay gap has stalled, putting off the projected date the gap will close until 2057."
Men's weekly income increased by $22 in 2012 compared to 2011, while women's median weekly wages rose just $7. The discrepancies appeared in almost every comparison the department selected, from African-American men vs. African-American women to young men vs. young women to those with similar educational backgrounds.
"The other thing that hasn't changed much since last year? The myth that you won't find any gap if you just compare women and men who have the same kinds of jobs, the same experience or the same advanced education," Coukos said.
What is to be done? Continued education, Coukos said. Dispelling myths that women can't handle the same amount of work or need more flexibility than men due to family responsibilities. Increasing workplace pay protections for women, especially those of color. Better coordination of government efforts to close the gap.
"The pay gap isn't a myth, it's a reality – and we're all responsible to help fix it," she said.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
