Joey Garrison

jgarrison@tennessean.com

Mayor Megan Barry on Wednesday issued an executive order to create a new panel that will study gender inequity in Nashville and Metro government and report findings and recommendations back to the mayor.

The 45-member Council on Gender Equity includes a long slate of Metro, business and nonprofit leaders as well as arguably Nashville’s most famous rocker — Jack White.

White, founder and owner of Nashville’s Third Man Records and a resident here for several years now, has been active in Metro in the past, having served on former Mayor Karl Dean’s Nashville Music Business Council.

In his latest civic service, White will help an advisory group tasked with providing what the mayor’s office called “data-informed recommendations and advice” to address systemic differences in benefits and opportunities that might be unfairly provided to one gender but not another.

The hook for White’s involvement: Third Man Records’ policies for employees, which at a Wednesday press conference to announce the new council were lauded as a model for other small businesses. White said his record store has health insurance for all employees, six-month paid maternity leave for new mothers, three-month paid paternity leave and a $15-an-hour minimum wage for all employees regardless of gender.

“If my small company can enact these ideas then so can McDonald’s and General Motors,” White said, prompting cheers from members of the new task force in attendance.

“I believe all human being in this planet and in this society we live in deserve to be treated the same,” he said. “They deserve to be treated the same in their social lives and in their financial and business careers as well.”

The Council on Gender Equity will be co-chaired by Pat Shea, CEO of the YWCA of Nashville and Middle Tennessee and Ronald Roberts, CEO of the public relations firm DVL Seigenthaler.

The council is to oversee research on gender equity and form recommendations of programs and other solutions when gender inequity appears to exist in Nashville. Areas to review include salaries and wages, economic opportunities, family services and child care, health and safety and data integration.

“Everyone deserves access to services and opportunities, regardless of gender,” said Barry, who last year became Nashville’s first woman mayor.

“To make sure we have the right information to make these decisions, we need a group of smart, dedicated people who can do the necessary research, crunch the numbers and give us the advice on where we’ve been, where we are where we need to go,” she said.

Barry called White “a great example about what a small business can do, and that will help lead the conversation.”

White, whose bands have included The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs and The White Stripes, said it is “embarrassing” that a gender wage gap still exists. He said pay should not be dictated by gender, or whether an individual is transgender or gender neutral.

“In my life in the arts, I’ve always considered it unfair when, for example, while producing a record, that a drummer would be less than a singer simply because that singer had an agent or representative,” he said. “I think they should be paid the same.

“Now wouldn’t it be just as ridiculous to pay two fiddle players a different wage because one of them is male and one of them is female? I think so.”

The new Council on Gender Equity comes after Barry earlier this year created a new chief diversity officer position, tapping Michelle Hernandez-Lane of the Metro Finance Department to fill a role that is meant to ensure more minorities and women are tapped for government jobs.

Prompted by legislation that recently passed the Metro Council, the city is currently in the process of studying a new paid maternity and paternity policy for Metro employees. Neither is currently offered.

“This council, all of us in this room, will work to ensure that each person has access to appropriate opportunities and services needed to maximize their potential,” Shea of the YWCA said.

“Equality is analogous with sameness. It’s making sure that everyone has the same resources,” she added. “But as the mayor believes, equity is about fairness. It’s about ensuring that those resources actually meet the individual needs regardless of gender.”

Other members of the new Council on Gender Equity include Juvenile Court Judge Sheila Calloway, New Covenant Christian Church Pastor Judy Cummings, Metro Council members Mina Johnson and Anthony Davis, U.S. Rep Jim Cooper’ s Chief of Staff Lisa Quigley, Chris Sanders, executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project and Jeff Teague, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee.

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.