Wednesday, March 21, 2012

The Good Ol’ Boy State?


Idaho is known as the Gem State. But under Gov. Butch Otter, it should be known as the Good Ol' Boy State because the good ol' boy governor is engaging in gender-based wage discrimination.

Even though it's been nearly 50 years since Congress passed the Equal Pay Act in 1963, women in Otter's cabinet still make less than their male counterparts.

Idaho women should be furious about the way Otter has compensated Idaho State Agriculture Department Director Celia Gould.

She manages 259 employees in an agency that serves one of Idaho's largest industries. She's headed up the agency since 2007 and is a former legislator. She makes $106,621 a year in the job.

None of that mattered in October when Gov. Otter appointed Jeffrey Sayer to lead the Idaho Department of Commerce where he oversees 53 employees. Sayer's brand new salary is $145,018. This is $38,000, or 36 percent, more than Gould's.

Otter's budget chief, Wayne Hammon, also makes $9,300 more than Gould while supervising just 18 employees.

This is no mistake. If it were, the median salary of the 11 women in Otter's cabinet would be near the median of the 33 men who work for the governor. While the women's median is $85,446, the men's median is $103,002, or 21 percent, more.

Otter's response to this "discovery" outlined in a story in the Idaho Statesman was silence. Unless we count that of his spokesman, who said one of the governor's priorities is "addressing pay inequities at all levels of state government."

Otter should be red-faced. Idaho women should be purple with rage. It's not the 1950s anymore. Women need more than respect. They need equal pay for equal work—even in the Good Ol' Boy State.




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