Ranked: Industries shortchanging Seattle-area women

Washington women are paid 76 cents for every dollar paid to a man.

That gender-based discrimination in pay has been illegal in the state for 75 years hasn’t corrected that pay imbalance.

Differences in experience and education can’t explain why Washington women are getting shorted. But the gender pay gap is not uniform. Check out the gallery to see which occupations present the greatest pay differential for King County women.

MORE FROM SEATTLEPI: Where Washington workers are winning, losing ground when it comes to pay

The pay gap is particularly large for women of color. According to statistics provided by the Washington Legislature’s Democratic caucus, African American women make 61.1 cents to every dollar paid to white men doing the same work, while Native American women earn 59.8 cents and Latinas earn 46.3 cents.

Lawmakers in Olympia hope a new legislative effort will help Washington women in their fight for fair pay.

State Equal Pay Act already criminalized gender-based discrimination in pay. The new law – the Equal Pay Opportunity Act, which passed the Legislature and was delivered to Gov. Jay Inslee Thursday – changes the existing law to make it easier to enforce.

Key changes include provisions that expand the definition of “similarly employed” workers to include those who have similar job requirements and qualifications, regardless of their job titles. Employers will no longer be able to use a female employee’s salary history as a defense for why she was paid less than similar male employees.

The new law also prohibits employers from requiring employees not to disclose their pay rates. Such prohibitions make it difficult for workers to tell if they are being shortchanged for discriminatory reasons.

“I’m proud of the work we accomplished, and look forward to both women and men being empowered to talk about their wages, to address inequality when they see it, and to not be fearful of retaliation,” bill sponsor Rep. Tana Senn, D-Mercer Island, said in a statement.

Under the act, the Department of Labor and Industries investigate any complaint of wage discrimination. L&I may then fine the employer. Workers may also pursue private lawsuits under the act.

The bill passed by a wide margin in the House and Senate. It drew bipartisan support, though all of the no votes came from Republicans.

Inslee, who has said that he supports the equal pay bill, has three weeks to sign the legislation.

The slideshow above uses findings from the Census Bureau’s American Communities Survey, an annual sample designed to draw out detailed demographic information. Income information used there does not capture differences in educational attainment or worker experience levels.

SeattlePI senior editor Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at @levipulk. Find more from Levi here on his author page.