NORTH HAVEN — U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy visited Quinnipiac University’s School of Nursing in North Haven earlier this month to discuss the wage gap for female nurses that was reported in a research study by a team that included experts at the Yale School of Public Health.

The research concluded that male nurses make $5,100 more per-year, on average, than female nurses, which prompted Murphy to remark “that it’s like women working free until the middle of March.”

Jean Lange, dean of the School of Nursing, said, “It’s a remarkable report for a profession dominated by women.” She said 10 percent of nurses are male.

Murphy used the discussion to promote passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which is pending in Congress.
“It would add protections for employees sharing salary information, which hinders the ability of employers to hide info, and it will increase penalties on employers that raises the stakes of non-compliance,” he said.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who has introduced fair pay legislation in the House of Representatives, said, “The gender-based wage gap exists in nearly every profession and I appreciate Sen. Murphy’s attention to this issue as we continue to fight for policies that help working Americans.”

School of Nursing faculty and students who attended the meeting had their own perspectives on wage discrepancies. Nicholas Nicholson, an assistant professor of nursing, said salary requests are often based on negotiating skills. “Men are approved as being strong negotiators while women are often perceived as being pushy or overly aggressive.” Victoria Flagg, an undergraduate nursing student, said women sometimes shy away from asking peers about their salary or bosses for raises “to avoid being rude.”

Mark Giles, a graduate student, said he has been able to negotiate for higher salaries after finding out what other nurses earn.

Lange said that gender and cultural differences should not impact salary negotiations and that efforts to equalize pay for both sexes should not bring wages down.

“There is room to negotiate for higher salaries in some areas and the solution is to bring the wage gap up for all employees,” she said. “Don’t bring the whole wage gap down.”

She also said the nursing school offers help with negotiation skills and that students should rely on salary data from the Association of Operating Nurses and other organizations to request specific salaries.

Murphy said the current effort to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act “is not likely to move in the Republican Senate. We might try to attach it as an amendment to other legislation.”