The town of Franklin may employ a majority of men, but the women are making more on average than their male co-workers. 

Pay for Macon County employees is constantly on the mind of Macon County Manager Derek Roland, and every year putting together the county budget is a balancing act between protecting taxpayer dollars and providing adequate pay for the county’s more than 300 employees.

Bryson City is a small town with a lot of big responsibilities and limited financial resources. While it is a major tourism hub that supports second-home owners and thousands of visitors during the season, the full-time population is only an estimated 1,500. 

Swain County might still be led by men, but women are key contributors in the day-to-day operations of the county government. 

The Equal Pay Act, which mandates equal pay for equal work and forbids employers from paying men and women different wages or different benefits for doing jobs that require the same skills and responsibilities, was signed into law in 1963. 

Sylva is a town that’s run by women, both on the board of commissioners and among staff positions in town hall.

While men hold the highest-paying and highest number of jobs in most Western North Carolina governments, Jackson County is a noticeable exception to that general rule. 

As the largest North Carolina town west of Asheville, Waynesville often sets the bar for how other municipal governments handle issues of governance. Although it’s among the worst in terms of gender balance in the workplace, Waynesville’s leaders are now attempting to set an example of how to deal with it. 

From the very birth of this nation, the words “All men are created equal” never really meant all men, and it certainly didn’t mean women. 

In recognition of the 19th Amendment’s centennial anniversary this month, The Smoky Mountain News is doing a series of stories to highlight issues of equal pay and voting rights in the United States. This week, SMN investigated how well local government agencies are doing in regard to equal pay for women. See a full list of this week's coverage after the break.