Jennifer Siebel Newsom asks California cities for equal pay pledge. Fresno is one of 6 onboard

Fresno this week became one of six major California cities to pledge to close the gender wage gap.

The city joined Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Long Beach in signing the Equal Pay Pledge, which was started in 2019 by First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and builds off of California’s equal pay laws to further ensure that men and women receive the same pay for their work.

“From the moment I was elected Mayor of Fresno, choosing a team that reflected diversity and gender equity was a priority,” Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said in a release from the governor’s office.

“I’m proud to say that women make up 60 percent of my administration, including our city manager, my chief of staff, two assistant city managers, my communications director and more. Citywide, we continue making great strides in evaluating and making equitable improvements.”

By signing the pledge, the city commits to conducting “annual gender pay analyses, reviewing hiring and promotion processes and procedures to reduce unconscious bias and structural barriers, and promoting best practices to help close the pay gap and ensure fundamental equity for all workers,” according to the release.

What city employees earn in Fresno

In a statement to The Bee, Dyer said the city no longer uses prior salary as an element in deciding initial placement and is compliant with the Equal Pay Act and California Equal Pay Act, “where employees in job classifications are paid equally regardless of gender.”

Additionally, the city manager reviews monthly pay analysis reports for unclassified employees, “to ensure we are equitable and consistent.”

The public has full access to city jobs and pay at publicpay.ca.gov.

“We are fully transparent with salaries,” Dyer said.

Equal Pay Day

Siebel Newsom announced the pledges during a news conference Tuesday on Equal Pay Day, which has become the symbolic representation of the gender pay gap. The yearly observation represents how many extra days the average woman must work to catch up with what an average man earned during the previous year.

“It will continue to take public and private partnerships like our California Equal Pay Pledge to close the gender pay gap in California,” Siebel Newsom said.

“Given our history as a nation, closing the pay gap for mothers and women of color may seem like a daunting goal, but in California, we are up to the challenge.”

Women’s pay

Nationally, women earn on average 77 cents for every dollar a man earns, according to the governor’s office. The numbers are worse for Black women (64 cents), Latina women (54 cents) Native American women (51 cents) and mothers (62 cents).

In California, women earn 88 cents of what a man earns, which still creates a financial loss of $87 billion each year, the governor’s office said.

In Fresno, the wage gap may be marginally better.

A 2022 study from GoodHire found that the city had one of the smallest wage gaps in the U.S. According to the study, women in Fresno earned 89% of their male counterparts. The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey had that number at 81%.