Full-Time Employed Women Make 20 Percent Less Than Men in Texas

Our daily roundup of Texas headlines.

By Michael MarksDecember 9, 2016 3:13 pm

The Standard’s news roundup gives you a quick hit of interesting, sometimes irreverent, and breaking news stories from all over the state.

In 2015, women in Texas with full-time jobs earned about 20 percent less than men with full-time jobs. That’s according to a new report from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Whereas men earned an average of $864 per week, women earned $683.

Cheryl Abbott is an economist for the bureau based in Dallas. She explained that one reason for the difference is that industries with more men tend to have better pay than those with more women.

“Now I’m not trying to say there is absolutely no difference between median earnings for men versus women, but a lot of it is based on the simple occupational distributions,” she said. 

The pay gap between men and women in Texas is roughly in line with national trends.




After a year-long struggle, one hero has risen above all others. Candace Payne, a woman from Grand Prairie better known as “Chewbacca Mom,” produced the top Facebook Live video of the year. Broadcasting from inside her car in the parking lot of a Kohl’s, the video of Payne wearing the Chewbacca mask was shared over 3.5 million times.

Facebook Live launched in August of 2015 – this is the first year that Facebook has tracked which videos broadcast on its site have had the greatest reach. Payne’s video topped live election streams from Buzzfeed, CNN and NBC, and a video of people lining up to hug Dallas police officers after the July shooting.




Former Baylor football coach Art Briles is suing officials at Baylor University for libel and slander.

Briles was fired in May amid an ongoing scandal, in which several football players were accused of sexual assault. Regents for the university said that Briles knew about the assaults but did not act – Briles says that this is untrue and that it has cost him coaching opportunities.

The lawsuit asks for over a million dollars in damages.