In April 2013 we visited the Oregon state legislature to advocate (successfully) for SB 744, the bill that triggered a state report on the wage gap.
We co-authored this Guest Opinion piece in The Oregonian about it. And in June 2013 we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the federal Equal Pay Act, a period during which some progress has been made toward pay parity, but not nearly enough.
So we are quite pleased that the Oregon Council on Civil Rights’ report on understanding and eliminating our state’s wage gap was released on January 27th in Eugene with Senator Chris Edwards, the bill’s chief sponsor, and Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, who will move the report recommendations forward with legislative partners.
Family Forward Oregon’s Executive Director, Andrea Paluso, is eager to put the report to work,
This report is such a great tool because it dives deep to identify the real and varied reasons women and people of color are earning less than white men in Oregon. Some of the barriers to equal pay don’t surprise us, of course – like the incredibly high cost of child care and the fact that care work has long been undervalued in this country. We’re excited to work with Labor Commissioner Avakian and our state legislature to move some of these solutions forward. Soon!
You can download, read, and print the full report, Pay Inequality in Oregon, here.
Some of the Council’s key recommendations to close the wage gap align well with our own roadmap for a more family-friendly Oregon where being a woman and a mother doesn’t mean you are less economically secure:
Paid sick time for ALL Oregon workers, so workers don’t lose needed pay when the inevitable cold hits.- Affordable, near-work childcare options so women don’t leave the workforce because childcare is too great a barrier.
- More women, girls and people of color in STEM educational programs so they can step into Oregon’s highest-paying jobs.
- Paid family & medical leave, so new mothers and caregivers aren’t deciding between needed pay and responsible caregiving.
- Assisting employers to ensure pay equity in house – and recognizing those that do.
Read the Salem Statesman-Journal’s article about the report here.