Legislation at the federal level designed to improve women’s economic opportunities appears stalled, including, most recently, the Paycheck Fairness Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. But some states are taking matters into their own hands and working on similar laws in their legislatures. They could serve as models for what needs to be done at the federal level.

On Tuesday, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) signed an equal pay bill into law. The new law will require employers to prove they have legitimate business reasons for paying workers unequal wages, protect workers who discuss pay with each other, provide protections for employees who request flexible work arrangements, give mothers who need to express breast milk at work protection, and improve the process that ensures state government contracts pay equal wages. It also establishes a study committee to look at instituting a paid family leave law.

New York may soon follow in Vermont’s footsteps. In his 2013 State of the State address, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced a Women’s Equality Agenda that is currently winding its way through the state legislature, and many of the provisions relate to women’s economic opportunities.

One would amend state law to make it explicit that pregnant workers are entitled to reasonable accommodations related to pregnancy and childbirth unless they would create a hardship for the employer. Women are often pushed out of their jobs or fired when they request accommodations like a stool, the ability to drink water on the job, or be given light lifting duties. On a recent conference call about the proposal, Dina Bakst, co-founder and co-president of A Better Balance, recounted the stories of New York women who experienced these responses, including a worker who was pushed out of her job at 17 weeks pregnant because her employer refused to modify a lifting requirement. She ended up in a homeless shelter thanks to the loss of income.

Another provision would prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who share wage information with each other and redefine what exceptions employers can cite for pay differentials so that they can only relate to job performance or business necessity. Yet another would amend New York State’s human rights law to provide explicit protections for workers who have children.

New York goes even further, though, by taking an intersectional approach to women’s equality. While statehouses across the country continue to consider a record number of bills that seek to limit women’s reproductive access, New York’s bill is the only current one that would expand it. The state’s existing laws regulate abortion in the criminal code and only allows for abortion care later in a pregnancy when a women’s life is at risk, not when her health is at risk. If the national precedent of Roe v. Wade were to be struck down, abortion care could be hampered, so the agenda seeks fixes to clarify women’s rights.

While it may seem unrelated to women’s economic opportunities, access to abortion care plays a big financial role in women’s lives. Women who aren’t able to get an abortion when they seek to terminate a pregnancy are three times more likely to fall below the poverty line within two years. Controlling fertility allows women to hold jobs and invest in their education.

New York and Vermont are following other state-level successes for equal pay laws. Texas passed its own Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to reform the constitution to allow workers more time to file a charge of discriminatory pay. New Mexico passed the Fair Pay For Women Act this year, which also eases the ability to bring cases alleging pay discrimination.

These bills are popular with both the general public as well as the business community. In New York, 84 percent want to enact equal pay legislation and 80 percent want to update the state’s abortion laws. The state’s chamber of commerce has also come out in support. Federal lawmakers may want to take note of the success of these efforts at the state level.

For years, Republicans have delayed a vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act, legislation that would strengthen penalties against employers who discriminate against women in pay and give women greater opportunity to find out whether they have been discriminated against. But on Thursday, House Democrats announced they were creating a “petition to discharge,” which, if it gets enough signatures, would force the bill out of committee and to a vote. On Thursday night, Minority Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) voiced her support for the move:

If Congress is serious in its efforts to strengthen the middle class, support our workforce, and secure equal rights for every American, we must allow a vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act [...]

Equal pay for equal work’ is not just a slogan; it is the foundation for the health, growth, and prosperity of our families and our economy. When a woman is paid fairly, our whole nation prospers. Let’s work together to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act now.

So far, only Democrats have signed the discharge petition — and it needs a total of 218 signatures, which means 17 Republicans must join in. Republicans blocked another procedural move to give the Act a vote Thursday. During a push by the Senate last year, the bill almost cleared the filibuster hurdle, but fell short.

With growing conversation around equal pay and women’s rights, it’s possible that the bill could gain support. Even Oprah Winfrey, the richest self-made woman in the United States, explained during a recent PBS interview that she was paid less than half of what her male coworker made in her first job:

On average in the United States, women earn 77 cents on a man’s dollar. Those lost wages aren’t just discriminatory; they hurt families and the economy alike. The average lost wages in a woman’s lifetime could feed a family of four for 37 years, and closing the wage gap would amount to huge economic stimulus.

Today is Equal Pay Day, the day of the year when the typical female worker finally catches up to the wages the average male worker made last year. Women make 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, and though that gap has shrunk since President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act in 1963, progress has stalled in recent years even among efforts to keep closing it.

Women across industries are paid less than men who do the same work, but in some industries, the gap is particularly large. As the chart from Sarah Jane Glynn at the Center for American Progress shows, women in financial industries, marketing, and education administration face pay gaps even larger than the national average. These are the 10 jobs with the biggest gender wage gaps:

As Glynn notes, women earn more than men in just seven of the 534 occupations listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and those seven jobs account for just three percent of the female workforce. The gender wage gap costs the average woman more than $430,000 over her working career, enough money to feed a family of four for 37 years.

The persistence of the pay gap — at its current rate of closure, it won’t close fully for 45 years — has sparked calls for the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would strengthen anti-discrimination laws and levy heavy fines on employers who don’t pay women equal wages. The Act received a vote in the Senate last year but was filibustered by Republicans.

Four years ago today, President Obama signed his first bill into law: the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, meant to address the pay gap between men and women. Ledbetter famously worked years without knowing that she was being paid less than her male co-workers for doing similar work. The Supreme Court threw out a case against her employer, saying that she had waited too long to challenge the pay disparity. The Ledbetter law is meant to ensure that women have ways to take action against pay discrimination.

But even with the passage of Ledbetter, the pay gap remains a stubbornly persistent problem. Here are some facts and figures to know:

– Women make just 77 cents for every $1 made by men. Over a woman’s career, that disparity leads to more than $430,000 in lost wages for an individual woman.

– The amount a woman loses to the pay gap could feed a family of four for 37 years. A woman could also use that money to buy seven degrees at a four-year public university or 14 new cars.

– The pay gap starts early. One year out of college, women make 82 cents for every dollar earned by their male peers for doing similar work.

– The wage gap grows over a woman’s career. For working women in their 20s, “the annual wage gap is $1,702. In the last five years before retirement, however, the annual wage gap jumps to $14,352.”

– A woman’s pay, on average, stops growing when she turns 39. For men, wage growth doesn’t stop until age 48.

– The pay gap plagues higher-paying jobs. Despite women earning more advanced degrees, the pay gap hasn’t closed for specialized professions. Female doctors earn $350,000 less than men over their careers. Female CEOs earn 69 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts, and female lawyers make tens of thousands of dollars less than their male peers.

President Obama mentioned the pay gap in his inauguration speech, saying, “Our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts.” Last week, Rep. Rose DeLauro (D-CT) and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) reintroduced the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would close loopholes in the 1960s-era Equal Pay Act.

In a recent interview with GQ, pop icon Beyoncé Knowles struck a serious note when talking about sexism, specifically on the issue of the gender pay gap — the fact that women are paid, on average, 77 cents to a man’s dollar.

“Equality is a myth,” Knowles said, launching into an explanation of the impact that a lack of equal pay on the entertainment industry:

“You know, equality is a myth, and for some reason, everyone accepts the fact that women don’t make as much money as men do. I don’t understand that. Why do we have to take a backseat?” she says.

“I truly believe that women should be financially independent from their men. And let’s face it: Money gives men the power to run the show. It gives men the power to define value. They define what’s sexy. And men define what’s feminine. It’s ridiculous.”

Knowles is right to call out the entertainment industry. There’s a lack of accurate information on how women are faring in the industry, but, sadly, it is known that women in Hollywood earn less than men overall, and the pay gap increases as women age.

For young women overall, the gender pay gap starts immediately out of college and accrues over their lifetime. While the gap was closing for a period of time, it has stagnated at 77 cents on the dollar for years.