LOGAN — The gender wage gap is a topic of discussion both nationally and in Utah, impacting women in nearly every industry and occupation.
Nationally, women earn between 16.4% and 17.3% less than men for year-round, full-time work, amounting to a total loss of $1.7 trillion every year for women in the U.S.
For women in Utah, the pay gap is even larger, according to recently published research from Utah State University’s Utah Women and Leadership Project.
The report found that Utah women working full-time, year-round, still earn significantly less than men by about 27% — the worst pay gap in the nation.
For every dollar paid to men, Utah women — including part-time and seasonal employees — earn just 61 cents, lower than the national average of 75 cents.
The discrepancy is no secret, either.
“The majority of Utahns agree that the gender pay gap exists,” Susan Madsen, founder of the Utah Women and Leadership Project and co-author of the report, said in a statement. “Furthermore, 82.6% of the 2024 sample agreed on some level that Utah leaders should take action to close the gender pay gap.”
While it can be hard to quantify when simply thinking about cents on the dollar, the report showed how that gap can manifest itself to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of a woman’s career.
Unsurprisingly, Utah is also home to the worst lifetime pay gap in the nation, with a loss of $755,120 for a woman over her 40-year career compared to a man.
“This means the average Utah woman would need to work until she is 75 years old to earn what a Utah man makes by age 60,” said the report.
What’s behind the gap?
Utah’s gender pay gap is driven by many things, the report said, including occupational segregation, underrepresentation in higher-wage, male-dominated roles, part-time employment and cultural expectations around family and caregiving, as well as limited access to child care and the influence of social and religious norms.
“Previously, Utah’s high fertility rate has been deemed to be a major contributor to the large gender pay gap in Utah, but with the state’s fertility rate continuing to decline over recent years while the pay gap remains stagnant, that assumption is challenged,” said the report.
The report also pointed to religion as a strong influence on the social expectations of women and men alike. A May 2024 report from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute found that Utah has the largest share of religious adherents (76.1% of the population) of any state, making it the most religious state in the nation by this measure.
This prominence of religion, especially the high percentage of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the cultural practices that emphasize marriage and family, the report said many women may feel torn between wanting (or needing) to work for pay in addition to participating in aspects of home and family life.
“Research has established that the cultural environment in which an organization operates will often represent the gender expectations and biases that are elevated among the larger culture. As such, the gender pay gap may disproportionately impact women in religious cultures,” the report says.
Still, women in Utah participate in the workforce at a higher rate (63.7%) than the national average (59.4%), and women-owned businesses in Salt Lake City grew 26% between 2022 and 2023, compared to 17% nationally.
Closing the gap
So, what can be done to begin closing the gap?
According to the report, it starts with both policy and culture change.
For example, the report specifically mentioned family-friendly workplace policies, stronger child care infrastructure, pay transparency and stronger worker protections as avenues to help women pursue higher-paying careers while balancing caregiving responsibilities.
Additionally, the report discussed expanding access to growing industries, addressing occupational segregation and supporting women-owned businesses.
“There’s a tendency to dismiss the gender pay gap, explaining it away by pointing to women’s ‘choices,'” Kolene Anderson, co-author of the report and the Utah Women and Leadership Project associate director, said in a statement. “But to do so negates the impact of messaging about the socially and culturally acceptable roles of women and men. Long before a woman makes her first dollar, her occupational ‘choice’ is influenced by years of socialization, education, mentoring and messaging about her competency and responsibility, as well as the expectations of others.”
Above all else, addressing the gender pay gap and the factors that cause it, Madsen said, is the most crucial step toward gender equality not just in Utah but across the nation.
“We need to overcome stereotypes about what constitutes men’s and women’s work, both in and out of the home, to begin achieving gender wage parity,” she said. “Working to find solutions at the local, state and national levels will contribute to making Utah a state where girls, women and our communities can thrive.”
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
