The pay gap between men and women has steadily narrowed during the past few decades. Women earned 77 cents for every dollar men earned in 2011, compared with 59 cents in 1963, the year President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act.
The gap – as ranked by the difference in median annual income between men and women who work full time – varies greatly state-by-state, according to a recent analysis of Census data by the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Some states have rooted out instances where women are being paid less than men for the same job, narrowing the gap. Other states have economies based on industries that are dominated by men, keeping the gap comparatively wide.
Here is a look at states with biggest and smallest gender pay gaps.
5. California
Women in California's full-time workforce make 85 percent of what men do, putting it No. 5 on the study's list states with the narrowest wage gaps. In raw numbers, the median salary for women is $41,817, compared with $49,281 for men.
California's high ranking is partly because of the state's large service industry. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) ranks the leisure and hospitality industry as one of the top sectors for women’s pay equity. That means California’s service industry somewhat outweighs the state’s high-tech industry, in which men often earn more than women. Another contributing industry is agriculture, which the BLS also ranks as a sector with high women’s pay equity.
But California's high unemployment rate is also a factor. Areas with high unemployment see narrow wage gaps, Ariane Hegewisch, study director at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, told Forbes magazine. California has the third highest unemployment rate in the nation: 10.9 percent.
4. Nevada
Nevada’s earnings ratio – 85 percent – breaks down to $35,484 for women versus $41,803 for men.
Nevada’s two largest industries – tourism and mining – are gender-segregated industries, with mining dominated by men and tourism industries by women, according to the AAUW. But the strength of the leisure and hospitality industry in Nevada gives it a comparatively narrow pay gap.
A narrow wage gap isn’t necessarily an indication of high wages, though. States with low overall earnings and high unemployment (Nevada has the highest unemployment rate) often have narrow gender wage gaps, Ms. Hegewisch told Forbes.
“So if you don’t have good opportunities for either men or women, we often find a lower wage gap. A job is a job,” she said.
3. Maryland
Women made 86 cents for every dollar men made in Maryland, the third highest ratio. The median salary for women was $48,748 versus $56,708 for men in 2011.
Maryland’s success in closing the wage gap is influenced by its high ratio of government workers as well as unions, says Michele Leber, chair of the National Committee on Pay Equity.
She compares Maryland with its neighbor,Virginia: they have similar ratios of government workers, but Virginia ranks 29th.
“Virginia is a right-to work state, which will lower the earnings ratio,” Ms. Leber says.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider