Women lawmakers in Connecticut wore red to the legislative office building Tuesday morning to show that women are still “in the red” when it comes to the wages they’re owed.
March 25 marks how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year. State Representative Kate Farrar of West Hartford and Newington is raising awareness about the gender pay gap in Connecticut.
According to Farrar, Connecticut has made progress to close the wage gap over the years by increasing salary transparency and putting forth efforts to support women in the workforce. But the pay gap, she said, persists.
“Here in Connecticut, women are making 84 cents to the dollar of men, but those gaps are greater for Latina women,” Farrar said. “Latina women make 49 cents to the dollar of white, non Hispanic men and Black women only make 59 cents to the dollar of white, non Hispanic men.”
Equal Pay Days of women of color
According to the AAUW, Equal Pay Day changes for women of different races. Equal pay day for Black women is July 10th. For Latinas, it is October 8th.
Marinda Monfilston is board president of She Leads Justice, a non-profit organization that advocates for women and girls in Connecticut. She said another way to think about the negative impact of gender wage gaps is in terms of a lifetime.
“Data shows that Black women in Connecticut would need to work until they are 90 years old to catch up to the career earnings of white men at age 60,” she said. “Native women need to work until they are 95 and Latinas will need to work until they are 103 years old.”
As a Black woman herself, Monfilston said women of color deserve to see the work that they do reflected in their paychecks.
“I want my whole dollar,” she said. “I already earned it, so I deserve to be paid my whole dollar.”
Advocating for wage transparency and additional resources
State Representative Anne Hughes of Easton, Redding and Weston is a member of the Labor Committee. According to her, the wage gap is the result of an economic system that undervalues and exploits female-led workforces.
“So when we try to change that system and stop normalizing systemic discrimination by our bill like HB 6517 which requires wage transparency, salary range transparency when you post a job, there are certain dudes on our committee that say, ‘No, it's working fine the way it is,’” she said. “Maybe for you but not for the whole system.”
The bill would require employers to list the salary range of a position on their job postings. According to Hughes, a listed salary range would enable women to be able to negotiate their salaries more effectively.
“We know that a lot of women will take what's offered, especially when they're first applying for a job,” Hughes said. “I heard one of my colleagues on the Labor Committee saying anyone has the right to ask what the salary range is on the first interview. How many women do that on their first interview?”
A systemic issue
Similar wage transparency requirements have been implemented in other states.
“We know New York State, Washington State and California have a similar requirement, and if you look at those states' wage gaps, they are smaller than Connecticut,” Farrar said.
According to the National Women’s Law Center, full-time working women in New York and California made 87 cents for every dollar a man made in 2023. In Washington State, it’s 79 cents for every dollar.
Nationally, women of all races working full time were paid only 83 cents for every dollar paid to men. That’s up from 81 cents per dollar in 2003, showing the gap has narrowed slightly over the last two decades, according to a recent analysis by the Pew Research Center.
“Even though women have increased their presence in higher-paying jobs traditionally dominated by men, such as professional and managerial positions, women as a whole continue to be overrepresented in lower-paying occupations relative to their share of the workforce,” according to Pew. “This may contribute to gender differences in pay.”
To help women rise the ranks to higher-paying managerial positions, Farrar is also supporting House Bill 5003, which would provide more funding for childcare services and early childhood education programs.
“We know that when women have access to more affordable and accessible child care,” Farrar said, "they're more likely to stay in the workforce and keep raising their wages.”
