Women rare among state's high earners

I'm in the wrong business. That's clear enough, looking at this year's state salary book.

If only I wasn't so uncoordinated, so squeamish, I could be making some serious money.

Take it from me, kids: Go into coaching or doctoring if you want to make the big bucks. Oh, and also: Be male.

Each year, the state releases public information about state employee earnings. Monday, officials released figures for the salaries and other compensation for nearly 60,000 state employees.

There were few surprises: University of Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz continues to be the state's highest-paid public employee by far, pulling in $3.3 million in salary and other compensation.

No big surprise, either that university football and basketball coaches took the top four salary slots. Ferentz, former UI head men's basketball coach Todd Lickliter, Iowa State University head football coach Paul Rhoads and ISU head men's basketball coach Greg McDermott took home a whopping

$6.7 million last year.

The ousted Lickliter managed to make more in his nine months at work last year than many Iowans will likely see in a lifetime, but that's not really a surprise either.

And it's a disappointment maybe, but not a surprise, that there were no women at all in last year's top 10 state earners - UI Athletic Director Gary Barta is eighth on the list, which is rounded out by (male) UI surgery and dentistry heads.

The highest-paid female state employee - the universally beloved and ridiculously competent UI women's basketball head coach, Lisa Bluder - made the No. 11 spot, pulling in $589,406 in salary and other compensation. That was a nice surprise.

But Bluder is one of only a handful of women breathing the rarefied air up there with Iowa's high-wage earners. Curious, I started looking down the list for more. And looking. And looking.

Two-thirds of Iowa women work, compared with 59 percent of women nationwide. They make up nearly half the state's labor force. Iowa women are more likely than Iowa men to go to college, but their paychecks fall short.

In fact, when it comes to high wage earners, Iowa's got the largest pay gap in the country. A lot of that is out of state government's control. But not everything.

Nearly 50 years after Congress passed the Equal Pay Act, only five of the 50 highest-paid state employees in Iowa are women. Only 12 women are in the top 100 - and to be honest, that's where I stopped counting.

It wasn't surprising anymore, but it was awfully depressing.

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