When an employer doesn’t provide job applicants or employees information about the pay for open job positions, women lose out. The outdated practice of keeping pay secret allows discrimination and unjustified pay gaps to flourish and keeps employees from trusting they are paid fairly.

On the other hand, disclosing the pay or pay range for a position may help close gender wage gaps. Pay range transparency gives job applicants crucial information that can help them negotiate for higher pay or make more informed choices about which jobs to go after. Transparency around pay ranges also provides businesses with an opportunity and strong incentive to proactively review and evaluate their compensation practices and address unjustified disparities between employees, while helping them attract and retain talent. Because of this, more and more states are requiring employers to be transparent about pay ranges in job announcements.