In support of the Kentucky Commission on Women promotion of Pay Equity Day, the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights releases today the Overview of Women in Kentucky 2010 updated report. The work is based on information from a variety of sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, the Kentucky Commission on Women and others. National Pay Equity Day, April 20, promotes the push for fairness regarding women's salaries in the workplace. Women in Kentucky still make less than 75 cents to the dollar compared to men with similar or equal positions.
"As much as their male counterparts, women have played vital roles throughout Kentucky's history, and women account for over half the state population, yet they trail the nation in a number of areas affecting quality of life," said John J. Johnson, executive director of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights.
Kentucky continues to rank third from the bottom in the nation regarding women's economic progress and fourth from the bottom for women's health and well-being as was reported last year by the Kentucky Commission on Women. Kentucky women still fall below the national average in median annual earnings and there continue to be a disproportionate number of women living in poverty. Women constitute 60.7 percent of the population whose income is below the poverty level.
In a new section of the 2010 update, the report looks at discrimination complaints concerning the protected class of sex. Over the last decade, the state Human Rights Commission has received over 800 complaints based on the civil rights protected class of sex. Women made almost all of these complaints, and 94 percent of the complaints alleged sex/gender discrimination in the workplace.
The report is available online on the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights web homepage at www.kchr.ky.gov.
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