Gender Pay Gap
Although the gender pay gap has narrowed since the signing of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, women still earn 82 cents for every dollar a man earns in the U.S. and approximately 73 cents in the state of Utah. The gap is even wider for Utah women of color. Depending on the metric, Utah is ranked between 45th and 50th as one of the worst states for this gap. Reports estimate that, depending on the rate of change, it may take anywhere from 40 to 130 years to close the gap. Closing the gender pay gap will strengthen economic security and prosperity for families, communities, and the state. When women earn more, they can spend, save, and invest more which creates economic stability for women and their families, lowers poverty rates, and decreases unemployment.
A Bolder Way Forward’s Gender Pay Gap Spoke is working with The Wolf and The Bee , Women's Leadership Institute, and other partner organizations to close the gap and ensure that all Utahns who have a similar background, education, and years in the labor force earn equal pay. Learn more about how you can help narrow the gender pay gap by visiting the resources below. Individuals, organizations, and communities can also take specific actions to help. To get engaged, contact Sandy Lisonbee (The Wolf and The Bee) to engage in efforts to help individuals or Ashley DeHann (Women's Leadership Institute) to help corporations and organizations.
Key Resources
Informational Video
Resource Kit
Research Snapshot
What Utahns Need to Know
Spoke Podcast
Bold Goals
Through collective impact and systems thinking, Utah can improve things by working towards the following goals:
- Narrow the gender pay gap and move up in the state rankings on WalletHub’s "Gender Disparity in Wage Gap". [Metric Dashboard]
- Increase women’s skills and knowledge about compensation strategy by providing and supporting comprehensive training programs (both online and in-person). [Metric Dashboard]
- Increase the number of employers who are committed to closing the gender pay gap. [Metric Dashboard]
- Increase research around the prevalence of and reasons for the wide gender pay gap in Utah. [Metric Dashboard]
- Shift Utahn's agreement (understanding and perceptions) in the following areas: [Metric Dashboard]
- I believe a gender pay gap exists in Utah.
- Utah women make less money than their male counterparts even when they have the same/similar experience, education, and position.
- I believe it is valuable for me to understand my personal finances.
- Utah’s pay gap exists because of women’s own choices (e.g., career breaks, educational choices, lack of experience, job industry). [Decrease agreement]
- Utah leaders should take action to close the gender pay gap.
Brittany Davies (CPO, Fullcast)
Bill Prisbrey (Consultant, Martin & Prisbrey LLC)
Rachel Cottam (Founder, Allies at Work)
What You Can Do
Encourage your company or organization to conduct an annual pay equity audit. If needed, share resources that could be helpful.
Complete a salary negotiation training (4-part series or AAUW) and encourage others to do so.
Seek a deeper understanding of the gender pay gap by reading and reviewing reports and resources. Share what you've learned with others. Include the impacts of socialization and occupational segregation in your exploration.
Community Partners
The Wolf and The Bee is a nonprofit organization that provides resources and tools to navigate and resolve workplace harassment and discrimination. These include an online training series to bridge the gender pay gap and informative stories about pay equity.
Martin & Prisbrey LLC is a management consulting firm that specializes in business growth through data analysis and professional relationship development. Services include pay equity analysis, data science, and business intelligence.
A multidisciplinary law firm focused on helping organizations prevent workplace conflict and miscommunication.They offer coaching, mediation, investigation, and trainings to support healthy work environments.
Momentum Employer Group provides progressive HR services and processes. Through implementing performance management practices and strategic human capital planning, they help optimize businesses and employees.
WLI works to elevate the talents and status of women across Utah through research-based principles. Along with the ElevateHER coporate challenge, they offer leadership series on career development, rising leadership, and political development.
The Society for Human Resource Management, creates better workplaces where employers and employees thrive together. The Utah SHRM State Council supports and serves 5 chapters in the state to elevate the Human Resource profession in Utah.