To earn the same amount of money for the same work, statistics show a woman would have to work four months longer than the average white man.
Hence the observance today of Equal Pay Day, when activists around the country push for more aggressive action to close the wage gap between white men and other groups.
Far from a celebration, Equal Pay Day is a call for action. As such, Utahns have elected to forego holding the kinds of rallies being held in other cities Tuesday, in favor of a daylong Pay Equity conference on April 27.
"Our intent is educational and informational, to have the business, legal and human resources communities become more informed on the matter," said Abbie Vianes, executive director of the Governor's Commission for Women and Families, a co-sponsor of the conference. "I believe that people need to get the information and the facts about wage disparities in Utah."
Only when employers are informed, and employees are empowered, will change finally begin to take root here, Vianes said.
The Equal Pay Act, passed in 1963, prohibits sex-based wage discrimination between men and women in the same establishment who are performing under similar working conditions. Then, in 1964, title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibited wage discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin or disability.
Despite the law, Utah women's wages continue to lag behind men's, and those of other women nationwide.
According to statistics released this year by the Center for Policy Alternatives — from research conducted by the Institute for Women's Policy Research — Utah women earned 65 cents for every dollar a man earned. Only Wyoming — where women earned 63 cents on the dollar — ranked lower.
Jeanna Nixon, program coordinator for the nonprofit community action group Utah Progressive Network, said women and minorities earn less because their work tends to be valued less.
"I think that part of the pay difference between men and women can be explained by how women's work is valued here," she said. "Because Utah is a conservative state where many women may feel pressure to stay at home, their work tends to be undervalued.
"We don't necessarily see women as the breadwinners in the family."
Ironically, Nixon said, Utah has one of the highest percentages of women working outside the home.
"I think that may be due to overall lower earnings combined with larger families," she said. "So we have more women working, but at lower wages."
Vianes and Nixon agree part of that wage gap may be explained by the jobs women tend to take — fewer women pursue the lucrative "hard sciences" than men, many opting instead for jobs in "helping" fields like education, nursing and social sciences.
"One thing that would help decrease the wage gap is developing opportunities for women to take nontraditional jobs, like those in the sciences," Nixon said. "But at the same time, you really have to look at why jobs like nursing and teaching are so undervalued. It really speaks to the way we think about these jobs, which are so critical to our society."
The Equal Pay conference will feature seminars by nationally recognized economist Mary Baker; Kate Kirkham, director of the Master of Organizational Behavior Program in the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University; and Mary Woodhead, a Utah attorney who specializes in labor and employment.
For registration information, visit the conference's Web page www.utahbar.org/cle.
E-MAIL: jnii@desnews.com