INSTITUTE INDEX: The gender pay gap yawns even wider in the South

By Sue Sturgis / March 7, 2017

(For an interactive version of this map from the National Women's Law Center, click here.)

Date on which people across the South, U.S. and world will participate in A Day Without a Woman to show the vital role women play in the economy: 3/8/2017

Year in which the first International Women's Day was celebrated on that same date in Russia, an action that helped spark the Russian Revolution: 1917

Today, cents a U.S. woman earns on average for every $1 a man earns: 80

Cents a white woman in the U.S. earns for every $1 a white man earns: 82

Cents a black woman and a Latina, respectively, earn for every $1 a white man earns: 65, 58

Cents a woman residing in the South earns for every $1 a man in the region earns: 78.7

Louisiana's rank among states with the greatest gender wage gaps: 2*

Cents Louisiana women earn for every $1 earned by their male counterparts: 68

Rank of Florida among the states with the narrowest gender wage gaps: 3**

Cents a woman residing in Florida earns for every $1 a man there earns: 86.6

Of the 10 states with the narrowest gender wage gaps, number in the South besides Florida: 1***

Pay that the average working woman in the South lost out on due to wage inequality in 2014 alone: $6,392

Total that adds up to for all working women in the South per year: $155.4 billion

Percent of the gender wage gap that researchers found can be attributed to education and workforce experience: 8

Percent that can be attributed to industry and occupation: 51

Year a U.S. congressional research review reported that studies have consistently found unexplained pay differences between women and men even after controlling for measurable factors, suggesting gender discrimination is at play: 2010

* The gender wage gap in Louisiana is exceeded only by that in Wyoming, where a woman earns 64.4 cents for every $1 earned by a man.
** Florida is surpassed only by New York, where a woman earns 88.7 cents for every $1 earned by a man, and Delaware, where a woman earns 88.5 cents for every $1 earned by a man.
*** The other is North Carolina, where women earn 86 cents for every $1 earned by a man.

(Click on figure to go to source.)

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