Goldberg names committee on wage equality

State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg has formed a committee to promote wage equality in Massachusetts workplaces.

Goldberg will chair the committee, which includes 17 other members from the public and private sector. Its five goals include providing a "toolkit" for government agencies and businesses to shrink the gap between men and women's wages, holding regional roundtable discussions, and planning a wage equality conference for businesses and policymakers to be held in April 2016.

Women in Massachusetts earn 82 cents for every dollar men do, Goldberg's office said, with even lower figures for minority women.

"Pay equity is not a partisan issue, nor solely a women's issue. It is a family issue, and it affects the economic health and well-being of our entire state," Goldberg said in a statement. "This committee will develop concrete strategies and highlight best practices from both the private and public sectors so that the Commonwealth can address this critical economic issue."

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh is the committee's honorary chairman. In a statement, he applauded the formation of the committee and said it would "make lasting strides" on a complicated issue.

"This is government leading by example, working to change the culture around women's pay, and moving the conversation forward," Walsh said in a statement.

A spokesman for the treasurer's office said the group wouldn't convene according to a set schedule, but would meet as needed. Its members include:

- Elizabeth Barajas-Roman, Women's Fund of Massachusetts

- Congresswoman Katherine Clark

- Catherine D'Amato, Greater Boston Food Bank

- Carol Fulp, The Partnership

- Kerry Healey, Babson College

- Gloria Cordes Larson, Bentley College

- Dr. Jeffrey Leiden, Vertex Pharmaceuticals

- Cathy Minehan, Simmons School of Management

- J. Keith Motley, UMass Boston

- Joyce A. Murphy, Commonwealth Medicine

- James Roosevelt Jr., Tufts Health Plan

- Henry Thomas 3d, Urban League of Springfield

- Steven A. Tolman, Massachusetts AFL-CIO

- Reverend Liz Walker, Roxbury Presbyterian Church

- Kate Walsh, Boston Medical Center

- Beth Williams, Roxbury Technology