ST. LOUIS — For the fifth straight year, Saint Louis University has been named as a top workplace for women by the Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis (WFSTL). The foundation announced honorees for its seventh annual “Women in the Workplace: Employment Scorecard” on March 12. 

SLU was one of only five large organizations (500 or more employees) to be honored this year. This year's scorecard recognizes 14 honorees in three size categories that the foundation said met or exceeded criteria for workplace gender equity in four areas: leadership, compensation, flexible work policies, and recruitment and retention, according to the WFSTL. 

“We are grateful that the Women’s Foundation has recognized SLU once again as an employer that has demonstrated excellence in key categories for workplace gender equity,” said Mickey Luna, vice president for human resources at SLU.  “The Foundation’s use of objective criteria and outcomes recognizes the intentional efforts that SLU has made to promote and maintain an inclusive and equitable workplace.”

In the organizations that are recognized in the foundation’s scorecard, women comprise a minimum of 28 percent of top leadership roles; a minimum of 25 percent of women in the top 10 percent of the most highly compensated employees; a starting wage higher than the Missouri minimum wage; and family-friendly flexible work policies and recruitment and retention programs targeted at advancing women.  

The foundation released its scorecard on Equal Pay Day. According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, this annual date symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned the previous year.

SLU’s commitment to pay equity was particularly noteworthy following recent federal and state data that indicate gender wage gaps persist and, in some cases, are becoming worse, according to Luna. 

According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data cited by the foundation, women working full-time in Missouri earn an average of 79.5 cents for every dollar earned by a man in 2022. Based on the most recent Census Bureau survey, BLS data showed that full-time women workers had median weekly earnings of 83% of their male counterparts. According to the foundation, women nationwide won't see equal pay until 2053 if current trends continue.

“In order to address and rectify the continued discrepancy in gender compensation in Missouri, it is important for employers to continue efforts to provide sustainable careers for working families,” Kristy Bourgeois, chairperson of the WFSTL Women in the Workplace Committee, said in a statement. “The Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis initiated the Employment Scorecard seven years ago to recognize local employers who are committed to recruiting, retaining and advancing women in the workplace.”