Ten Years Later, California’s Fair Pay Act Has Transformed Women’s Wages in the State and Sparked a National Movement

November 10. 2025

For Immediate Release
Nov 10, 2025

Media Contact
Nazirah Ahmad
[email protected]

Groundbreaking law narrowed California’s wage gap to 13%, returned $500M+ to workers, and inspired protections in other states – creating essential defense against current federal rollbacks

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 10, 2025—Ten years after Equal Rights Advocates drafted California’s Fair Pay Act, the law has insulated California from the national trend of a widening wage gap and provided a proven roadmap for states to push back against federal rollbacks. 

Following the passage of the Fair Pay Act and 7 subsequent state equal pay laws, California’s wage gap has narrowed significantly over the national average, major companies have paid hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements because of the law, and more than 25 states have followed California’s lead – building state-level pay protections that serve as the primary defense against federal civil rights rollbacks under the Trump administration.

“Ten years later, we’ve proven that this is a blueprint that works, and states across the country agree.”

– Noreen Farrell, Executive Director

“We studied every fair pay law in the country and identified exactly why they were failing. Then we wrote legislation that closed every loophole. We passed the California Fair Pay Act with support from the business community, and we showed how it improves the workplace for both employees and employers. Ten years later, we’ve proven that this is a blueprint that works, and states across the country agree,” said Noreen Farrell, Executive Director of Equal Rights Advocates and one of the architects of the law passed in 2015. 

Since the Fair Pay Act took effect, California has achieved concrete economic gains for working women. The law’s broader definition of “substantially similar work” closed loopholes that had allowed employers to justify pay disparities, while stronger anti-retaliation protections empowered workers to uncover discriminatory pay. Since 2015, California’s gender wage gap narrowed to 13%, significantly outperforming the national average of 18%

“With a White House and Supreme Court determined to upend civil rights protections and throw women out of the workplace, the state laws we have passed over the past 10 years for women and other workers are now our best line of defense against federal attacks.”

– Noreen Farrell

In order to help replicate California wins in other states and at the federal level, Equal Rights Advocates co-founded the Equal Pay Today Campaign with partners across the nation. This power building coalition is driving consistent change across the country. “California is not an outlier; it is an instigator,” Farrell said. For example:

• 25 states followed California’s model by passing strengthened equal pay laws, and dozens more introduced similar legislation. 
• With 14 states + Washington D.C. now having pay transparency requirements, more than one in four U.S. women are covered by pay transparency protections. 
• Major companies paid more than half a billion dollars in settlements for gender pay discrimination, including Disney, Google, Oracle, Goldman Sachs, Snapchat, Activision Blizzard, and Riot Games.
• From coast to coast, dozens of states have raised their minimum wage, even those with majorities of Republican voters.

“Support for pay equity by workers across political persuasions has grown exponentially over the past decade and remains a key demand of those most likely to vote.” Farrell said. “Legislators who ignore these growing demands for quality jobs, livable wages, and increased economic security do so at their peril. The policy revolution started by passage of the California Fair Pay Act may well become a ballot box litmus test by voters tired of federal rollbacks of workplace rights,” Farrell said. “With the Trump administration and Supreme Court systematically dismantling federal workplace protections, the state-level infrastructure built over the past decade has become critical.”

“Imagine if Californians weren’t armed with the strong state protections we have now,” Farrell said. “With a White House and Supreme Court determined to upend civil rights protections and throw women out of the workplace, the state laws we have passed over the past 10 years for women and other workers are now our best line of defense against federal attacks.”

Despite progress, significant challenges remain. The wage gap widened in 2023 for the first time since 2003, and as of 2024, widened for 2 years in a row for the first time since the data was first collected in the 1960s. Women of color continue to face the largest disparities. In California, Black women earn 56 cents for every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men, Native women earn 42 cents, and Latinas earn 41 cents—the worst wage gap for Latinas in the nation.

“Legislators who ignore these growing demands for quality jobs, livable wages, and increased economic security do so at their peril.”

– Noreen Farrell

“We’ve proven what’s possible, but the work isn’t finished,” Farrell said. “We’re at a critical moment where we need to both protect the gains we’ve made and keep pushing forward to close the gaps that persist.”

The California Fair Pay Act was part of the first policy agenda introduced by the Stronger California Advocates Network, a statewide coalition of organizations chaired by Equal Rights Advocates, fighting for gender, racial, and economic justice through workplace and childcare reforms, among other priorities. 

ERA will celebrate the law’s 10th anniversary with a reception in Los Angeles on Nov. 10, 2025, bringing together advocates, workers, and allies who have advanced pay equity over the past decade. The event, co-hosted by the California Commission on the Status of Women & Girls, and the Los Angeles County Commission on the Status of Women & Girls, will honor past progress and mobilize support for the continued fight ahead.

To speak with Noreen Farrell or other experts from Equal Rights Advocates, contact Erin Musgrave at [email protected] or 530-864-7014.