The effect of female state legislators on wage parity between female and male workers by state

This study examines the association between the number of females holding seats in state legislatures and parity in annual earnings between male and female fulltime workers (or the "pay gap") by state in the years 2005 to 2014, with variables controlling for the influence of educational attainment, work experience, job sector market changes, and political affiliations on male and female earnings. In 2014, female fulltime workers continued a historical trend of earning less than male fulltime workers, making 79 cents for every dollar earned by males. Research finds that a large portion of this gap is explained by differences and changes in market forces, employment experience and educational attainment. Still, some portion of the gap remains and could be explained in part by the changing nature of lawmaking institutions over time, including the portion of females elected to these bodies and the policy choices female legislators make to represent females as a constituency. Studies examining demographic representation find that female legislators tend to be more committed to policy issues related to the interests of females and to view women as their constitutes. This research builds on the exploration of demographic representation and policy outcomes by looking at the effect of females in state legislatures over one decade on the annual pay gap. I find that there is a significant association between the proportion of female legislators and pay parity between male and female fulltime workers, holding constant work experience, political and educational attainment factors, across time. However, there is no association when controlling for cultural attributes within states during this period, likely due to limited data that does not capture enough variation within state legislative and workforce trends during a ten-year window. Overall, the association between female legislators and wage parity merits additional research regarding the demographic representation, policy, workforce, and state climate or culture factors that lead to both a narrowing of the pay gap between fulltime male and female workers and more female state legislators.