{"id":5170,"date":"2018-04-09T11:30:50","date_gmt":"2018-04-09T16:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/?p=5170"},"modified":"2018-04-09T12:02:01","modified_gmt":"2018-04-09T17:02:01","slug":"gender-wage-gap-costs-sc-women-nearly-11-8-billion-a-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/2018\/04\/09\/gender-wage-gap-costs-sc-women-nearly-11-8-billion-a-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender wage gap costs SC women nearly $11.8 billion a year"},"content":{"rendered":"

A state-by-state analysis<\/a> released for Equal Pay Day tomorrow reveals that a woman employed full time, year-round in South Carolina is typically paid just 78 cents for every dollar paid to a man \u2013 a yearly pay difference of $9,995. That means South Carolina women lose a combined total of nearly $11.8 billion every year to the gender wage gap. If it were closed, on average, a woman working full time in South Carolina would be able to afford 78 more weeks of food for her family, more than eight additional months of mortgage and utilities payments, nearly one additional year of tuition and fees for a four-year public university, nearly the full cost of tuition and fees for a two-year community college, nearly 12 more months of rent or 21 more months of child care each year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This new analysis<\/a>, conducted by the National Partnership for Women & Families using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, finds that South Carolina has the 17th largest cents-on-the-dollar gap in the nation. It also finds that there is a gender-based wage gap in every single state and the District of Columbia. The cents-on-the-dollar gap is largest in Louisiana and Utah, followed closely by West Virginia and Montana \u2013 and smallest in New York, California and Florida. The study also analyzed the wage gap in each of South Carolina\u2019s congressional districts<\/a>, as well as for Black women<\/a> in South Carolina and other states.<\/p>\n

Working women in South Carolina are not alone in suffering the effects of the gender wage gap. It has detrimental effects on women\u2019s spending power in all 50 states and the District of Columbia<\/a>. The wage gap contributes greatly to our country\u2019s high rates of poverty and income inequality and is especially punishing for women of color. Nationally, white non-Hispanic women are typically paid 79 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men, Black women<\/a> 63 cents and Latinas<\/a> 54 cents. Asian women<\/a> are paid 87 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men, although some ethnic subgroups of Asian women fare much worse. The wage gap for mothers is 71 cents for every dollar paid to fathers.<\/p>\n

\u201cEqual Pay Day is a disturbing reminder that women overall have had to work more than three months into 2018 just to catch up with what men were paid in 2017, and Black women and Latinas must work considerably further into the year,\u201d said Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership. \u201cThe wage gap cannot be explained by women\u2019s choices. It\u2019s clear that discrimination contributes to it \u2013 and equally clear that it\u2019s causing grave harm to women, families and the country. Lawmakers have not done nearly enough to end wage discrimination based on gender and race; to end sexual harassment<\/a>, which impedes women\u2019s job advancement; to stop discrimination against pregnant women; to advance paid family and medical leave and paid sick days; and to increase access to high-quality, affordable reproductive health care. If our country is to thrive, we must root out bias in wages, reject outdated stereotypes and stop penalizing women for having children and caring for their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

To address this pervasive problem, the National Partnership is urging Congress to pass:<\/p>\n