One of the big national campaign issues in 2016 is gender pay equality. Despite federal and state equal pay laws being on the books since the 1960s, women, on average, still only earn 79% of the salary of their male colleagues. Naturally, the gap is even wider in Oklahoma. Even though women in this state are generally smarter, more reliable, harder working, better educated and more attractive than their male counterparts, they still only earn 73-cents for every dollar a man makes. That puts Oklahoma 44th nationally in the gender pay gap, behind such bottom-of-the-list stalwarts as South Dakota, Arkansas and even Mississippi.
There are lots of reasons men generally earn more than women – sexism, good old boy networks, secret societies, Republican women voting against their self-interests – but one key factor is that it's kind of difficult for female employees to know how much money their penis-clad coworkers earn. Unless you work for the government where all salaries are public, most employers don't allow employees to discuss pay with co-workers. At some places, it can even result in termination or punishment. I know that's the case at KFOR. If you're caught discussing your pay with anyone outside of Linda Cavanaugh, they make you clean the social media bandit cages for a week. Have you ever cleaned crusty banana vomit? It's disgusting.