This is a submitted open letter to members of the Mississippi Legislature.
Honorable Mississippi Legislators,
Our coalition is writing this open letter to ask that you give us the gift of passing an Equal Pay Law that protects the women of Mississippi, which improves the economy of our great state.
The Mississippi Women’s Economic Security Initiative Coalition is a collective of more than 50 organizations with thousands of members from across the entire state. The coalition is organized to promote policies to improve the economic wellbeing of women and family members they support. We know that many Mississippians are struggling to survive. Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed (ALICE) households struggle to function in every county in Mississippi—urban, suburban and rural—including people of all genders, ages, household types and ethnicities for whom women in Mississippi bear the heaviest responsibility of supporting their families.
Despite the fact that 49% of the state’s workforce are women, 83% of single female-led households live below the poverty level; women make up nearly two-thirds of workers paid minimum wage (only $7.25/hr); more than 70% work in tipped jobs and low-wage jobs that typically pay $11.50 an hour or less.
Mississippi’s working women are “economically insecure.” Without equal-pay protection, the women of our state face persistent poverty and live under perpetual financial trauma. Without support, women are forced to balance the duress they face...
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