Black women in Mississippi make 56 cents on the dollar compared to non-Hispanic white men. Over a 40 year career, a Black woman in Mississippi stands to lose nearly $850 thousand dollars to the wage gap. This means that the typical Black woman starting work at the age of 20 would have to work until the age of 91 to catch up to white, non-Hispanic men's career earnings by their age 60. That's according to the Black Women's Round Table.
Executive Director Cassandra Welchlin says ending pay discrimination and closing the wage gap isn't just another women's issue, but it will strengthen Mississippi families, businesses, and the state's economy.
"Women and Black women have a lot of buying power and we spend those dollars back into the community," said Welchlin.
"And so when she doesn't get what she needs, the rest of her cents for that dollar, then the state is losing and also the community is losing."
Welchlin says an online petition is increasing awareness of the pay equity gap in Mississippi and will be used to urge lawmakers to enact legislation that protects women.
Former Democratic Senator Tammy Witherspoon of Magnolia says she's introduced equal pay legislation every session since she was elected in 2015. She says there seemed to be little bi-partisan support until 2020, the year marking the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in America.
"That was the year that we came real close," said Witherspoon. "We did get bi-partisan support with the women in both chambers. We came together and we knew that that year was very important to us. So, we wanted to come up with a bill that both parties could support."
"But of course, coronavirus hit and we were not successful in that area unfortunately."
While there were attempts from both Democrats and Republicans to pass equal work equal pay legislation in this year's legislative session, none of them survived committee.
