The Wage Gap: How Women in America Are Getting Screwed

Posted on Sep 20, 2012

Flickr/Daniel Borman

Ladies: When it comes to equal pay, you’ve still got a long ways to go. That’s according to disturbing new data released this month that showed that, in 2011, women were making 77 cents for every dollar a man earned.

Here’s the sobering breakdown from NBC News:

For men who work full-time and year-round, inflation-adjusted median earnings fell about 2.5 percent between 2010 and 2011, to $48,202, according to the Census Bureau. For women working full-time, the median, or midpoint, of annual earnings also fell by about 2.5 percent, to $37,118.

... The wage gap has persisted even though women have made huge inroads in traditionally male-dominated fields and positions. There have been several high-profile examples of that phenomenon, including Yahoo Inc.’s decision to appoint a pregnant Marissa Mayer to the role of chief executive.

Despite such gains, research shows that women generally take home less money each week even when they are doing the same job.

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What’s more, that’s true regardless of where you live in the U.S. Data released Thursday by the National Partnership for Women & Families reveals that in 97 percent of congressional districts in this country, median annual pay is more for men than it is for women.

The National Partnership for Women & Families:

Nationally, full-time working women are still paid only 77 cents for every dollar paid to full-time working men, amounting to $11,084 each year, according to Census data. The congressional districts with the largest gender-based, cents-on-the-dollar pay differences are found in Louisiana, Virginia, New Jersey and West Virginia. The two districts with the largest gap in wages are in southern Louisiana; women there are paid just 61 cents for every dollar paid to men.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would close loopholes in the Equal Pay Act and establish stronger workplace protections for women. In the last two Congresses, the U.S. House of Representatives passed it, but it fell two votes short of moving forward in the Senate in 2010. It was reintroduced in the current Congress but blocked by a procedural vote in June of this year.

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