JACKSON, Miss — The Mississippi House have voted to require employers to pay women and men the same amount of money for the same work. But an advocate who has been pushing for years for an equal-pay mandate says the bill is weak.
Cassandra Welchlin is the leader of the Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable. She says the proposal would not help women of color who are more likely to be hired at low wages.
House Bill 770 passed the House 111-5 with bipartisan support. It will move to the Senate.
A 1963 federal law requires equal pay for equal work, but Mississippi is the only state without its own equal pay law.