Package of bills aims to ease wage gap
NAPA COUNTY, Calif. (KTVU) - Just in time for Labor Day, California women stand to benefit from a package of bills aimed at paying them more for the work they do.
Nationally, the numbers are well-documented.
Women working full-time make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes doing the same or similar work.
In California, it's slightly better at 84 cents to the dollar.
But if the woman is African-American, the ratio dips to 64 cents, compared to a white man. And if she is Latina, she earns only 44 cents in comparison.
It's not legal, but persists, and by closing loopholes, California will become the state with the toughest pay equity laws in the nation.
"What this bill does, more than anything else, is shine light on it,” Assemblyman Bill Dodd of Napa told KTVU, "because these are people issues, they're family issues. Forty percent of heads of households are women."
Dodd authored one of several "wage gap" bills that have won passage, and support from Governor Brown.
"I have two daughters and three granddaughters, just the thought of them being discriminated against, it's astounding," he observed.
Dodd's legislation requires companies doing business with the state to collect and submit data on how their pay stacks up.
"If we're going to do hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts, we're going to understand what our contractors are paying their people and if they're paying them fairly or not," he declared, "and the consequences, if they're not, perhaps no state contracts."
An even broader bill, the "Fair Pay Act" requires employers to pay men and women the same for "substantially similar work", not just the exact same job, unless differences are based on productivity, merit, or seniority.
"This legislation closes the persistent and long-standing gap women have faced at work," said its author, state Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson of Santa Barbara.
"It expands and strengthens their ability to legally challenge pay inequities."
Of course the challenge has long been - how do women know when they're being underpaid?
"I don't think we're told about it," observed attorney Laina Chikhani of Napa, "and I don't think it's knowledge everyone has in the workplace, and that's the problem."
Under the new law, employers aren't required to share salary information, but neither will they be allowed to retaliate against women who ask, or discuss, what their male co-workers earn.
Chikhani, who feels gratified working in a law firm that pays equitably, wonders how much the landscape will change when her 15-year-old daughter chooses a career.
"I don't want her to grow up and have that prejudice, and work just as hard, and probably do a better job than most men, and get paid less. It should be equal," insisted Chikhani.
In downtown Napa, "The Mustard Seed" boutique owner Barbara Wiggins reflected on her 33 year career, in which she's been her own boss.
"If you work hard, you will succeed," she enthused, while admitting if she had pursued a retail career alongside men, they would have been paid more than her.
"If I worked for a big retailer, depending on what I was doing, if it was corporate, yes, I'd probably make less money than men."
The gap between women and men holds true whether you're a maid or a movie star.
Even in Silicon Valley, women in technology make 70 cents for every dollar a man makes in a comparable position.
Equal pay laws have been on the books for decades, but since few women ever file claims, there is little enforcement.
Supporters say the new laws won't erase the imbalance, but may prod more women to speak up, and more employers to do right by them.