Infographic: Women, wages, and representation in Los Angeles City government

Photo of Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin. Photo courtesy of his Flickr page.

Even before Ron Galperin beat out Dennis Zine for the Los Angeles Controller’s seat last year, the affable attorney attempted to brand himself as a champion of free and accessible government data.

The latest from the Controller’s open data project — Control Panel LA — supports a well-understood narrative about City Hall: women may be well-represented in certain city government positions, but they are paid less than their male counterparts.

Glaring discrepancies are seen in the city’s Building and Safety Dept., where women earn just 70 cents for every dollar earned by men. The gap is even larger in the L.A. City Fire Dept. The average male firefighter earns roughly $150,000, compared to just under $100,000 for female firefighters.

And of the departments 3,457 employees, just 239 are women.

It’s true that the conclusions drawn from the data — that women, by and large, are paid less than men holding comparable positions — are well-documented.

Notwithstanding, there’s certainly some thought-provoking data on the controller’s data page, implying change is needed to rectify disproportionate pay.

For a full look at the wages of our city employees and the intersection of gender, click here.

And scroll below for a snapshot of women in L.A. city government: