Rhode Island Women Still Fighting For Equal Pay

When it comes to wages, there’s still a gender gap in Rhode Island.

According to a new report from the Women’s Fund of RI, the median weekly income for a woman in Rhode Island in 2011 was $746, while men earned $917.

The disparity happens in wage growth as well. Increase in median wage for both sexes has  increased, but between 2002 and 2008, mens wages rose by $135, while womens wages rose only $100.

Women also hold a slight majority of the states’ minimum wage jobs (55.6 percent), earn approximately 30 percent less than their similarly educated male counterparts, and overwhelmingly occupy the lowest salaried occupations in the state.

“Women represent the lowest wage earners in the state,” says Marcia Cone, CEO of the Women’s Fund, “we need to close this gap, and also increase access to affordable child care and family leave.”

Here’s Senator Gayle Goldin, the Strategic Initiative Director for the Women’s Fund of RI, on the wage gap, and why it still exists in the year 2013.

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