Intel, Cisco and Uber are among the latest California companies to sign a pledge for gender equity in pay, an effort being led by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, wife of Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The tech giants were a few of the 14 new signatories announced Tuesday by the office of Siebel Newsom. The others include employers big and small: Gap, Box, Lending Club and Ripple Foods.
They join what is now a list of 27 companies that have vowed to conduct an annual pay analysis and review their hiring, promotions and more to close the pay gap. When Siebel Newsom launched the Equal Pay California campaign in April along with the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, plus Time’s Up, among the big names that signed on were Apple, AT&T, Salesforce and Square.
Women in the state make about 89 cents for every dollar men make, according to the American Association of University Women.
“The pay gap is one of the most obvious ways our society devalues women,” Siebel Newsom said in a statement. “It is also one of the most damaging – women in California lose over 78 billion dollars a year because of the gap.”
The California Fair Pay Act, which took effect in 2016, requires companies to pay women the same as men for doing the same type of work. The campaign being led by Siebel Newsom aims to inform companies about how to comply with the law, and to share related resources with employees.
At least a few of the companies that have signed onto the campaign had previously announced that they had achieved pay parity, such as Apple (in 2016), Intel (in 2016, and globally in January) and Salesforce (in 2015).
“At Intel, we believe that fair pay is central to creating a truly inclusive workplace, and a key factor in driving better employee performance, productivity and engagement,” said Julie Ann Overcash, vice president of human resources at Intel, in a statement Tuesday. “I am tremendously proud of our ongoing commitment and I encourage all companies to join us in making pay equity a global priority.”
Siebel Newsom’s office continues to try to get more companies to sign the equal pay pledge, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.
