Equal Pay Day Highlights Pay Gap Between Women & Their Male Colleagues

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Equal Pay Day is intended to raise awareness about the gender pay gap.

In 2020, the average woman earned 83 cents for every dollar earned by a male colleague doing the same work, according to the White House. This, despite the legal protections, both federally and in 49 states.

The only state without some equal pay protections is Mississippi.  That meant when Dr. LaVerne Gentry noticed pay discrimination at her job at Jackson State University, she had to file a federal lawsuit.

"I knew that there were males who started with me and even some who started after me who were making significant more," Dr. Gentry said.

She won her lawsuit in 2009.

Now, more than a decade later, Mississippi still has no equal pay law, leaving no state legal recourse for employees being paid less for the same work based on sex.

"It's time that we have an equal pay statute here in our law books," said Rep. Angela Cockerham, an Independent in the Mississippi State House of Representatives.

Rep. Cockerham is the author of House Bill 770, one of two bills the state legislature is considering.

"I think that it will be so beneficial to so many citizens and residents here in the state of Mississippi," Rep. Cockerham said.

But not everyone agrees. Cassandra Welchlin, executive director of the Mississippi Black Women's Roundtable said the bills do not protect women of color, or against retaliation, and allow employers to use past wages as a reason for paying unfair salaries.

"Mississippi has to pass… a good equal pay law, not just an equal pay law," Welchlin said.

Gentry will be watching.

"Let's go ahead and get it right," she said.

She's hoping legislation will move women in the state a step closer to equal pay.

Rep. Cockerham hopes the legislature will pass an equal pay bill by the time the session ends April 1.