A Chief Equity Officer will be established for the first time in California’s history to lead efforts in equity-centered recruitment in employment and bridge the gender wage gap.
The state took a step closer in ensuring gender and pay equity by signing the California Pay Pledge, an initiative spearheaded by First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom. This initiative was announced by California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Jan.27, along with the creation of a Chief Equity Officer Position to improve state hiring and other procedures with an equity focus, including efforts to achieve pay parity among the state government workforce.
“Signing the pledge and establishing a Chief Equity Officer position are just the latest examples of our continued commitment to ensuring our state government workforce practices reflect the highest standards of economic, gender, and racial equity,” Gov. Newsom said.
According to the National Partnership for Women and Families, working women in California only make 88 cents for every dollar earned by a man. The pay gap is much larger among Black, Latina, and Native American women.
The latest state Women’s Earnings Report, which includes state employee pay data from 2020, indicates that the state worker gender pay gap has trended downward since 2010. According to the report, the civil service gender pay gap was 21.3 percent in 2010 and decreased to 14.3 percent in 2020.
On average, women employed full-time in the United States lose a combined total of over $87 billion every year due to the wage gap.
This announcement comes after the unveiling of Newsom’s California Blueprint, which includes a proposed $1.4 million package to improve awareness of state pay equity rights and inform enforcement efforts against those that violate equal pay laws.
“We can’t reach full gender equity or close persistent gender and racial wealth gaps without reaching pay equity,” Seibel Newsom said."I call on other employers to join us as we work to create a California where all women are valued, respected, and paid equitably.”
Signatories of the pledge agree to conduct an annual, company-wide gender pay analysis, review hiring and promotion procedures to reduce unconscious bias and structural barriers and promote best practices to close the pay gap. According to a statement released by Newsom’s office, there are over 60 major employers in the state who signed the pledge, including Airbnb, Apple, Gap Inc., Intel, and Twitter.
In 2020, Newsom signed laws to promote compliance with state equal pay and anti-discrimination laws through mandated statewide pay data reporting for employers with 100 or more employees.
First Lady Newsom's initiative will be led alongside the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls and the California Labor Commissioner’s Office.
