Gender Pay Gap in Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Since 1981, women have made up the majority of college-educated adults in the United States, and yet women are still paid less than men regardless of education level. In 1963, the Equal Pay Act was enacted to abolish unequal pay between genders. It has not been very successful. In 2023, for every $1 men earned, women earned an estimated 82 cents. If the pay gap continues to narrow at the current rate, women will not achieve equal pay until 2052.

Inequitable compensation is a form of gender discrimination in the workplace. In a 2017 survey, 1 in 4 women reported earning less than men for the same job. This affects the health and wellness of women in the workforce: A 2016 study found that women who earned a lower salary than their male counterparts were more than twice as likely to have depression and four times as likely to have anxiety compared with women earning equal or greater wages than their male counterparts.

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research estimates that achieving pay equality could halve the poverty rate among working women. This could, in turn, contribute to reducing poverty among children and families. Closing the gender pay gap can help many women, especially single mothers, achieve economic stability.

Income varies by gender, race/ethnicity, age and educational attainment.

• Asian and white men have the highest median incomes. Hispanic and Black women have the lowest.
• Asian and white women had the highest earnings differences compared with men of the same race, with Asian women earning 79 cents for every dollar earned by Asian men and white women earning 83 cents for every dollar earned by white men.
• Older women make less than younger women as a percentage of the earnings of men the same age.

Additionally, women with higher levels of educational attainment are more likely to experience gender discrimination at work and earn less than men performing the same job.

County Health Rankings & Roadmaps recommends labor unionization as a strategy for reducing income inequality as well as improving the health and well-being of Americans overall. Labor unions increase compensation and protections for workers, and have helped expand paid family leave policies that help mothers remain in the workforce after childbirth.

The Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor has stated the following goals for addressing the wage gap:

• Increasing pay transparency.
• Disrupting occupational segregation. 
• Eliminating discrimination.
• Increasing access to paid leave, child care and elder care.
• Creating pathways to good jobs for all women.

Guzman, Gloria, and Melissa Kollar. Income in the United States: 2023. Current Population Reports. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau, September 2024. https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2024/demo/p60-282.pdf.

Khattar, Rose, and Sara Estep. What To Know About the Gender Wage Gap as the Equal Pay Act Turns 60. Addressing the Gender Wage Gap. Center for American Progress, June 8, 2023. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/what-to-know-about-the-gender-wage-gap-as-the-equal-pay-act-turns-60/.

Kochhar, Rakesh. The Enduring Grip of the Gender Pay Gap. Data Essay. Social Trends. Pew Research Center, March 1, 2023. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/03/01/the-enduring-grip-of-the-gender-pay-gap/.

Platt, Jonathan, Seth Prins, Lisa Bates, and Katherine Keyes. “Unequal Depression for Equal Work? How the Wage Gap Explains Gendered Disparities in Mood Disorders.” Social Science & Medicine 149 (January 2016): 1–8.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.11.056.