Can Boston Erase the Gender Wage Gap?

Boston has the best-educated women of any major US city, and now Mayor Thomas M. Menino is trying to make it a better place for them to earn a living. The goal: to make Boston the first city to eliminate the wage gap between men and women.

 

Menino plans to announce this initiative Thursday, when he rolls out a compact signed by 38 employers that have committed to ending pay disparities. Nationally, women earn 77 cents for every dollar men make. In Boston, it’s 83 cents to the dollar — a difference of almost $10,000 a year, or about $400,000 over a career, according to a report by the newly formed Women’s Workforce Council.

Menino wants to have 50 companies sign the compact by year’s end.