Study shows La. has widest pay gap among sexes, bill seeks to equalize
by Kelsey McKinney - Shreveport Times (excerpt)

College-educated women in Louisiana experience the largest salary disparity in the nation relative to their male counterparts, but state Rep. Barbara Norton is pushing an equal pay bill to change the status quo.

Louisiana Equal Pay for Women Act, House Bill 705, will be presented to the upcoming legislative session in mid-May and will be accompanied by a petition first signed by the District 3 representative at a news conference Thursday. "Injustice has been done to women and it needs to be rectified," Norton said.

In Louisiana, full-time, year-round female workers with a college education or higher, age 25 and older, make 65 cents for every dollar their male counterparts do, according to an annual study conducted by the American Association of University Women. On average, women make $42,500 and men make $65,000.