Fair pay for women in Michigan? Not till 2086

Editor's note: A previous version of this story included an incorrect fraction describing the disparity between men's and women's pay in Michigan. The correct amount is included below.

I will not live to see the day when a woman will make as much money for the same work as a man in Michigan.

My daughters might not, either.

This may sound crazy, but women in Michigan still make just 77.1 cents for every dollar a man earns — even worse than the national average.

Think about what that means: Our paychecks are about one-quarter smaller.

Women have suspected it for years. It's been studied. And studied. And studied. But in the last decade there has been very little change, according to a report out this month from the Institute for Women's Policy Research.

"This form of sexism is something people probably feel is a thing of the past, but these numbers obviously disprove that," said Caitlin Anderson, 25, of Allen Park. She's a science teacher at Renaissance High School in Detroit.

The new study builds on previous research from the American Association of University Women and from the National Partnership on Women and Families, which used 2013 census data to show Michigan women earned 74 cents compared to every dollar a man made.

The state isn't projected to see pay equity until 2086.

You read that right: 2086, or 71 years from now. And in five states — West Virginia, Utah, Louisiana, North Dakota and Wyoming — women's earnings will not match men's until the next century.

"I have a stepdaughter, and I plan on having kids of my own, and what do you say to your little girls when they ask why that is?" Anderson said. "I don't know if I'll be able to explain that to my stepdaughter or to a daughter of my own. It's 2015. It just seems crazy to me."

Dr. Gloria Thomas, director of the Center for the Education of Women at the University of Michigan, said the issue goes deeper than just women, and has a bearing on society as a whole.

"If you can address women's issues, you're addressing the economy, economic sustainability and growth for everyone because in many families, women are heading the families," said Thomas, who served on the national advisory committee for the study.

"If you focus on women and pay equity, everyone's situation improves."

Michigan 'mediocrity'

The financial penalty for being a woman is high — across the country and in Michigan.

"Michigan should be embarrassed by its mediocrity," Thomas said. "I think when the governor talks about initiatives that are under way and our state legislators talk about initiatives under way, they should keep these data in mind."

David Murray, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Snyder, said the office isn't familiar with the report and couldn't react to specifics, but said Snyder has long called for closing the gender gap in wages.

"Equal pay for women is a must if we are to achieve true equality between the sexes," Murray said. The governor "believes pay equity also will drive Michigan's prosperity — it makes good business sense to have fair, equal and transparent compensation systems."

Terry Barclay, CEO and president of Inforum, the leading professional women's organization in the state, said studies like these help business leaders re-evaluate their practices.

"It's tremendously important that we have data like this," she said. "There's also research that shows that women are increasingly the breadwinners in the family. ... The days of women earning the pin money, the extra, for families are long gone. This is about their ability to put food on the table for children and families. That's why it's important to pay attention."

The wage gap is widest for Hispanic and African-American women, for whom issues of limited access to advanced education and higher rates of poverty are compounded by discrimination, according to the study, which calculated average salary using only full-time, year-round workers ages 16 and older.

The best-ranked place in the country for pay equity was New York, where women earn 87.6 cents for every dollar a man earns. Maryland and the nation's capital district ranked second and third in gender pay equity, getting a boost because of their high number of federal workers; government jobs are among the best-paying for women, according to the report.

Career choices

What's driving the disparity?

"A lot of the gender wage gap, or at least a big piece of it, has to do with occupational segregation," said Cynthia Hess, study director for the Washington, D.C.-based institute. "Women tend to go into one set of jobs and men tend to go into another set of occupations. And the jobs women tend to go into aren't as high paying."

Women, she said, tend to choose careers in education and social work, and are less likely to pick higher-paid fields such as science, technology, mathematics and engineering.

"Some of it has to do with women not really getting the same sorts of encouragement to go into those fields, especially at an earlier age," Hess said. "There are pervading stereotypes that boys are better than girls in math and science, and that plays a role. ... The other thing is the lack of role models in those fields for women."

Even among those who do choose higher-paying careers, the wage gap exists.

"When you compare women and men with the same educational level, the higher the educational level, the larger the gap," Hess said. "It shows there's a significant gain in a woman's earnings, but it doesn't eliminate the gender wage gap."

Hess said what also contributes to the pay disparity is the ever-increasing cost of child care and the pressure on women to be caregivers and career-focused at the same time.

Once children enter the picture, women are more likely to drop out of the workforce or scale back to part time when demands at home and the office become too much to manage.

And since women are earning less than men to begin with, Hess said it often makes more sense financially for the family for the woman to scale back at the office. Once a woman cuts back on work hours or drops out of the workforce for a while, her earnings rarely catch up to peers who remained employed full-time all along.

Women also are less likely than men to negotiate for higher salaries and pay raises.

"It's interesting because the last comprehensive national report was in 2004," Hess said. "It's allowed us to see what has changed and what hasn't changed in terms of the gender wage gap. There's been a good deal of stagnation in the last 10 years. Not much has changed."

How to lose $530,000

The average U.S. woman will lose $530,000 in her lifetime because of the pay gap, according to the study.

Oh, the things I could do with $530,000. I could pay off our mortgage, save for retirement, help pay for my children's college educations, buy a new roof, new windows. But I won't get to do that, and neither will my daughters, the study suggests.

Amy Stegner, a 30-year-old artist and librarian from Dearborn, found the news troubling.

"That's ridiculous and really upsetting to learn," she said. "Women certainly aren't getting any discounts on college, that's for sure. We're not going to pay any less for our educations even though we're paid less money" in the workforce.

I'm reminded of the words from Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax," a book I often read to my kids: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."

Contact Kristen Jordan Shamus: 313-222-5997 or kshamus@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kristenshamus.





To learn more

To read the report, go to www.statusofwomendata.org.

In the coming months, the Institute for Women's Policy Research is to release additional studies on poverty and opportunity; health and well-being; reproductive rights; violence and safety; political participation, and work and family.

Moving toward pay equity

Among the things that will lead to faster movement toward pay equity, according to Cynthia Hess of Institute for Women's Policy Research and Dr. Gloria Thomas, director of the Center for the Education of Women at the University of Michigan:

■ Greater transparency in wages. Heads of companies and human resources managers ought to audit payroll, and actively seek out pay disparities in their ranks and remedy them. Michigan was among 10 states last year to enact laws that make it illegal to retaliate against employees who ask about other workers' compensation or disclose their own.

■ Programs that show young women which careers are likely to bring them higher lifetime earnings so they can make informed decisions going into college.

■ Policies that support families, such as higher minimum wage, paid sick leave, paid maternity leave and lower cost, high-quality child care options.

■ Overcoming lower values placed on the work women do. At least five states and the District of Columbia have regulations in place for public employees that require equitable pay that is of comparable worth for the skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions.





Five best places for pay equity

■ New York, where women earn 87.6 cents for every dollar a man earns

■ Maryland, 87.4 cents on the dollar

■ District of Columbia, 87 cents on the dollar

■ Vermont, 86.4 cents on the dollar

■ Florida, 85 cents on the dollar





5 worst places for pay equity

■ Louisiana, where women earn 66.7 for every dollar a man earns

■ West Virginia, 67.3 cents on the dollar

■ Wyoming, 67.9 cents on the dollar

■Utah, 70 cents on the dollar

■ Nebraska, 73 cents on the dollar

Source: Status of Women in the States, Institute for Women's Policy Research