Join us for IWPR’s 2026 Power+ Summit, The Power Grid: Driving Gender Equity Forward, taking place September 28–29 in Detroit, MI.
Together, we will spark bold ideas, share breakthroughs, and shape the future of gender equity.
“The most significant disparity is in top administrative positions. Black men this year were paid nearly $3 less per hour on average than their white male colleagues, and black women averaged $1.43 per hour less than white women.
Ariane Hegewisch, a study director for the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a Washington-based nonprofit organization, said the gender gap tends to be larger than the race gap because male-dominated jobs tend to pay more. In addition, the highest-paying jobs usually have the largest disparities in pay.
“It’s encouraging that the (wage) gap isn’t very big for state workers overall,” she said.
Still, Hegewisch said a 20 percent wage gap between men and women in top state jobs is significant. ”