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"Yesterday marked the 16th annual Equal Pay Day, and, well, I&amp;#039;m still angry. It&amp;#039;s not that I wasn&amp;#039;t aware of the blatant pay gap that pervades all sectors of the American workforce. It&amp;#039;s just that, from year to year, I hope it gets better. But\u2026no. While the cost of nearly everything we do, use and consume goes up, women&amp;#039;s pay does not. It&amp;#039;s like we&amp;#039;re a fixed commodity! According to most current U.S. Census Bureau data available (2009), the annual state median earnings are $47,127 for men and $36,278 for women, with an earning ratio of 77% (aka 77 cents on the dollar). Washington D.C. fairs best, with women earning 88 cents on the dollar; Wyoming ranks last, with women earning just 65 cents on the dollar. While the pay discrepancy between women and men is clear cut and across the board\u2014particularly in female-dominated sectors\u2014the reasons for it are much fuzzier. Family, of course, is a primary issue. Women usually take time out of the rat race for giving birth and childrearing, which tends to happen during their peak earning years. And though many women move up the ranks and succeed upon returning, their earning power tends to be steadily below their male peers. What&amp;#039;s more, there&amp;#039;s the issue of actually asking for more money. I&amp;#039;ve personally seen it in my peers\u2014hesitant to negotiate on a job offer; not pushing for an annual review\u2014and research backs that up: men are four times more likely to ask for a raise. So what can you do? Learn about the wage gap in your state, realize the value you add to the workforce, negotiate at your job and support politicians willing to put equal pay on the map (last year, the Paycheck Fairness Act was defeated in the Senate. It will be reintroduced this year.). There&amp;#039;s no denying women have fought to become more educated and accomplished than ever before. Now it&amp;#039;s just a matter of seeing the proof in our deposit slips. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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