Emanuel hails ‘ significant step’ toward closing gender pay gap
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday marked the 22nd anniversary of Equal Pay Day by taking what he called a “significant step” toward closing the salary gap between men and women on the city payroll.
The mayor signed an executive order prohibiting members of his cabinet from asking job applicants what they were paid on their previous jobs or making similar inquiries to the prior employers of job applicants.
“Equality in pay between men and women has been a problem in the United States for too long,” Emanuel was quoted in a press release. “By signing this executive order, we are taking action to say that this practice has no place in our city and taking a significant step towards closing the gender pay gap.”
Human Resources Commissioner Soo Choi applauded the mayor for “taking the lead on addressing the gender wage gap issue” still holding women back. Although Illinois women now comprise nearly half of the state’s overall workforce, they still earn, on average, only 79 percent of their male counterparts’ wages. Black and Hispanic women earn even less.
At a Daley Plaza rally Tuesday of women leaders in Chicago, City Clerk Anna Valencia emphasized the greater disparities for women of color. She said in Illinois, for every dollar paid to a white man, Asian- American women are paid 86 cents, black women are paid 63 cents, and Latina women are paid 48 cents.
“As a woman, as a Latina, and a public servant, and the only citywide woman elected, I am committed to fighting to close this gap,” Valencia said.