Washington State Women’s Commission announces Activate 3.8 campaign

OLYMPIA, WA – The Washington State Women’s Commission will launch a campaign June 28 aimed at raising awareness and generating solutions to close the gender pay gap in Washington state. Activate 3.8 is a statewide campaign that seeks to bring together elected officials and state agencies, business and labor leaders, and academics to close the pay gap for Washington women and girls.

The National Partnership for Women and Families found that women in Washington made $18,400 less in average wages than men in 2022, the largest gender-based wage discrepancy in the nation, second only to Utah. This reality stunts our state’s economy and the opportunities for 3.8 million women and has the potential to do the same for future generations of girls. If this gap were closed, women in our state could pay for 11 months of rent, over a year of childcare, or pay off nearly two years of student loan debt.

For Black women, indigenous women, and women of color in Washington, the wage gap is even more dire.

• Latina women make $35,402 less than white, non-Hispanic men.
• Native American women make $31,587 less than white, non-Hispanic men.
• Black women make $28,405 less than white, non-Hispanic men.
• Asian American, Native Hawaiian, & Pacific Islander women make $21,468 less than white, non-Hispanic men.

There are many reasons Washington state lags the country. The overrepresentation of men in industries like technology and aerospace, where workers earn some of the highest salaries in state, skews the wage distribution. Higher-paying trades jobs often lack properly fitting protective equipment for women, contributing to their exclusion from these occupations. Additionally, when women find the opportunity pursue jobs in lucrative professions, as those fields become more female dominated, salaries drop. For example, when more women entered biology, wages dropped by 18%, according to a 2016 Cornell study. That same study showed wages for graphic designers fell 34% when women stepped into these roles.

The Washington State Women’s Commission is seeking solutions to close the wage gap by bringing together thought leaders across industries and experiences, while also introducing the next generation of young girls to opportunities in STEM careers, the trades, and other high-paying positions. The agency has partnered with the Girl Scouts of Washington on a state-wide tour to spotlight these opportunities and connect girls to women leaders in these fields. 

Activate 3.8:The Pay Equity Tour kicks off June 28th with our launch event. This Event is FREE and open to the public, click the link to RSVP !

MORE: This is just the first stop on a 10-city Pay Equity Tour in partnership with the Girl Scouts of Washington, where the WSWC aims to connect more K-12 girls to a wider array of career opportunities in tech, aerospace, STEM, construction, and trades.

Follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn for exciting updates about our launch and how you can be a direct part of Activate 3.8: The Pay Equity Tour. We hope to see you soon!

ABOUT THE WASHINGTON STATE WOMEN’S COMMISSION

The Washington State Women’s Commission, created by the Washington State Legislature in 2018, aims to improve the well-being of women by identifying and developing policies to remove systemic barriers and address critical issues that disproportionately impact women, including childcare access and affordability, domestic and gender-based violence, equal pay, and intersectional inequities.

Learn more at wswc.wa.gov.