June 10th marks the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, which made it illegal for employers to pay women lower wages than men performing the same job. During that time, women earned around 59 cents for every dollar that male employees made. Though this the gender pay gap has certainly decreased over the years, it is still largely present today.

According to 2011 research by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a woman’s wage rate was about 82 cents for the dollar paid to men. The pay gap is also evident in the risk management field. Data that was compiled for the 2013 RIMS Compensation Survey of risk management salaries showed that the female base salary was up to 17% less than males. The discrepancy was more significant among those handling claims, more specifically claims managers and analysts. The gap in risk management analysts was only 2% , whereas directors of risk management actually made 2.4% more. However, research shows that risk management salaries are still comparably more equitable than the national averages.

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