Wyoming holds the dubious distinction of ranking No.1 when it comes to the size of the wage gap between men and women. In 2012, a woman in Wyoming could expect to earn 64 cents for every dollar earned by a man. That's well behind the national average of 77% and Washington D.C. where the gap is at 90%. As a father, husband and brother I cannot fathom how the "free" market can relegate women in Wyoming to a secondary role when it comes to salaries.
It has to stop and there are both short- and long-term solutions. In the immediate, we need to make it easier for women to raise the issue of wage discrimination at their work places. Workers should not be penalized for discussing salaries and it may take legislation to ensure that those who do are not sanctioned by employers. In the long-run, we need to develop strategies to ensure that both male and female students are encouraged to pursue educational and career opportunities in those fields with the highest salaries.
As an attorney, I was pleased to see that more than 50% of my graduating class from the University of Wyoming College of Law was made up of talented, motivated and capable women. That is a far cry from the 1950s and '60s when women were a rarity in law schools across the country. We now need to focus on efforts to make that same change true in those critical STEM subjects. We all suffer when we don't open the doors of opportunity to all of our citizens.