Paycheck Fairness Helps Families, Not Just Women

The gender wage gap varies across states. While on a national basis, women’s earnings are 18 percent less than men’s earnings, women in some states experience much larger differences in pay. ... For example, in Louisiana and Wyoming, women earn only 69.4 cents and 70.4 cents, respectively, for every dollar earned by men. By contrast, in California, women earn 91.5 cents for every dollar earned by men. Although some portion of the gender pay gap can be explained by differences in education, occupation or job tenure between men and women, a portion of the pay gap remains unexplained and could be caused by gender-based discrimination.