Vol. 28, No. 6 #11 (December 2005). Understanding Wyoming's Woeful Wage Gap.

• Author: By Cynthia M. Lummis

Wyoming Bar Journal

2005.

Vol. 28, No. 6 #11 (December 2005).

Understanding Wyoming's Woeful Wage Gap

WYOMING LAWYERDecember 2005/Vol. XXVIII, No. 6Understanding Wyoming's Woeful Wage GapBy Cynthia M. Lummis

The first woman in the world to vote while exercising full voting rights with men was Louisa Swain, who cast her historic ballot in Laramie, Wyoming on September 6, 1870. Both Mrs. Swain and the Territory of Wyoming made history that day, Wyoming having granted women equal voting rights fully fifty years before the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution afforded all American women the same privilege. Yet, 135 years after Wyoming earned the title 'The Equality State,' women in Wyoming earn only 64.4 cents for every dollar earned by men for full-time, year-round work - the worst gap in pay between men and women of any state in the nation, according to a University of Wyoming study. Even within the Intermountain Region, where the wage gap is wider than in most regions, Wyoming is dead last.

A college education creates quantifiable wage-earning opportunities. If, then, knowledge is power, the current trend of women in college is encouraging. Women and men in Wyoming have very similar education levels. Census 2000 shows that 30.8% of Wyoming women have a high school or equivalent degree, 9% have associate degrees, 15.1% have bachelor degrees, and 4.4% have master degrees. In comparison, 31.2% of men have a high school or equivalent degree, 7% have associate degrees, 14.8% have bachelor degrees, and 4.8% have master degrees.

College enrollment of women in Wyoming currently exceeds that of men. At the University of Wyoming, women make up more than half the full-time undergraduate class, and over 60% of part-time undergraduates; women also comprise over half of the full-time graduate students, and over 70% of part-time graduate students.

Why, then, in an environment of comparable educational achievement, does Wyoming have such a wage gap?

A study funded by the Wyoming Legislature and published by the University of Wyoming in May 2003 found that the higher paying jobs in Wyoming were concentrated in areas such as mining, transportation and utilities, and that most of the men in the state are more often employed in these industries. Many of the jobs in these sectors do not require college degrees. Current...