Miami-Dade County Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava is currently drafting legislation to ensure pay equity for women in the county. It’s a CEDAW ordinance -- Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
CEDAW was adopted by the United Nations in 1979. The United States is one of the few countries in the world that hasn’t ratified the convention.
Cities and counties within the U.S. have taken it upon themselves to incorporate the principles of the international treaty for women and bring it down to a local level. Levine Cava says the county’s Commission For Women would lead the Miami-Dade CEDAW.
"We're looking at legislation that would allow them to have an annual reporting function on how well we're doing within the county itself on pay equity for women," Levine Cava said.
Laura Morilla is the executive director for the county’s Commission for Women. She says it’s not just a fight for Miami-Dade women -- men should support the legislation too.
"It means you can maybe buy that house, you can get that car, you can go on that vacation. I mean, it really is a family issue," says Morilla.
Levine Cava expects to have the legislation completed by June or July to then have the County Commission vote on it.
But Florida is actually not doing so bad in terms of gender wage equality. Just this month, Institute For Women's Policy Research released a new report putting Florida in the spotlight.
"Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Florida is projected to be the first state in the nation where women's median annual earnings will reach parity with men's, but not until the year 2038," according to the report.