PRESQUE ISLE – Maine women still are being shortchanged on the job, and local women’s groups want area residents to have the information they need to do something about it.

In an effort to promote awareness of the gender wage gap issue, officials from several state women’s organizations gathered at the University of Maine at Presque Isle on Thursday night to talk about the facts and how local women can respond.

Sponsored by the American Association of University Women, “Dollars and Sense: How the Gender Wage Gap Affects Your Family” included a keynote speech from a Department of Labor representative and a panel discussion by officials from the Women’s Resource Center at the University of Maine, the Maine WAGE Project, which is an acronym for Women Are Getting Even, and the Maine Women’s Lobby.

“Despite some progress, the greatest predictor of wages is still gender,” Sarah Standiford, executive director of the Maine Women’s Lobby, said Thursday night.

Standiford said that puts things into perspective for women who are struggling to get good grades and good jobs.

In 2004, Maine women earned an average of 77 cents for every dollar men earned doing the same job, according to data collected from the 2004 American Community Survey, which was conducted by the U.S. Census. That calculates out to $150 a week or $6,000 per year.

But that’s not supposed to happen in Maine, where an equal pay law has been on the books since 1949. Maine law requires that employees be paid the same wages as employees of the opposite sex for work that is of a comparable nature in skill, effort and responsibility.

So how come, one audience member wanted to know, the pay isn’t equal if there’s already a law?

Peaches Bass, a program specialist with the Department of Labor, said Thursday night that it all comes down to awareness. She said there’s a stipulation in the law that someone has to register a complaint to trigger the enforcement.

“And how would he or she know that they are protected for equal pay unless someone tells them?” Bass asked.

State officials and women’s organizations have been stepping up efforts to increase awareness, including a statewide poster campaign on the equal pay law that began in 2005 as well as AAUW-sponsored forums.

Thursday’s event, for example, was put on with support from: Women, Work and Community; Northern Maine Community College; UMPI; the University of Maine; Business and Professional Women; the WAGE Project; the Maine Women’s Policy Center; and the Maine Department of Labor.

Despite a turnout of fewer than 20 people at Thursday night’s forum, spreading the news was exactly what participants did.

Panelists discussed current policies and legislation affecting women’s wages, actions and initiatives being taken to address the problem, and the results of a comprehensive study that details the wage gap situation in Maine. Officials also discussed community-based solutions. Bass said her department would stand behind any community that wanted to set up a consortium to help deal with child care obstacles that affect women’s efforts to work. For example, she said, the area could start a community-run center that would stay open late and make accommodations for sick children.

The bottom line, panelists said, is that the state needs creative solutions to improve the situation for women and work toward a more level playing field.

“I think we can end that wage gap in 10 years,” Standiford said.

Although everyone in the room understood they have a long way to go, they seemed determined to make it happen. From across the room, a fellow panelist shot her a thumbs-up and flashed a big smile.