Pay Equity Likely to Be an Issue for the General Assembly

Women in Tennessee make about 72 cents for every dollar men make, according to a recent study published by the Tennessee Economic Council on Women.

The group held its annual meeting today in Nashville. House Majority Leader Kim McMillan says the issue of getting women paid equally for similar work is likely to come back to the General Assembly in January.

“I am very hopeful that there are many members of the General Assembly that will continue to look at this issue. Actually putting into parts is important. Compromise is the way things get done in Nashville and I think there are good parts to that bill and parts that I think nobody can have an objection to and we ought to go ahead and work on that and I think that they will while we’re gone.”

The Clarksville Democrat backed a bill this year to strengthen enforcement requirements for the existing pay equity law, but the bill failed after receiving no support from the state Chamber of Commerce and only lackluster support from Governor Phil Bredesen.

Bredesen said today that while he actively works for pay equity in his own administration, he’s not sure that legislation aimed at fixing the problem is the way to go.

McMillan is not returning to the legislature but says she’d like to see Bredesen support it if he wins another term in office. The report found also that the median income for women working full-time in Tennessee is just over 21-thousand dollars a year.