Five TV Characters Who Could Seriously Use A Raise

I have so many current ladies on TV who I look up to professionally, but with women earning an average of only 77 cents to every dollar men earn, I had to wonder: what’s Liz Lemon’s wage gap? Once I answered that question for myself, it then lead me to wonder: Holy crap. Are ALL of my favorite working women on TV underpaid? The answer: yes.

1. Liz Lemon, 30 Rock

The very first person I thought of when I thought about hard-working women in TV was OBVIOUSLY Liz Lemon. Girlfriend works HARD. She works extremely late, keeps crazy hours, and throws her life, heart, and soul into her work – and enjoys every single second of it. Plus, female producers/directors have median weekly earnings of $1,070; while men have median weekly earnings of $1,131. Hers wasn't the biggest or most shocking gap on my list, but $61 per week translates to $3,172 per year – that's an awful lot of Cheesy Blasters!

2. Leslie Knope, Parks & Recreation

And of course, coming in close second was Leslie Knope, AKA my own personal hero/spirit animal. Mostly because we have similar priorities: friends, waffles, and work.

Leslie is continually the most dedicated to the Pawnee Parks & Recreation Department and to the city of Pawnee in general. She doesn't have an off switch for work, but she still manages to make it fit into her life – mostly because she incorporates her friends, work, and love life together. And chances are Leslie could use a couple of extra dollars in her paycheck - female first-line supervisors or managers of office and administrative support workers make only 84% of what their male counterparts do.

3. Max Black, 2 Broke Girls

Max works incredibly hard – she deals with difficult customers full-time at a diner and is an entrepreneur with her own cupcake business. And she has to work harder than her male counterparts to save up money for her business - female waiters and waitresses make only 85% of what men do, with median weekly earnings of $383 vs. the $419 their male counterparts make.

4. Juliet O'Hara, Psych

Juliet dedicates her life to protecting the people of Santa Barbara, plus has to put up with all the craziness of Shawn, Gus, and Lasseter,who probably earn more than she does - women in protective service occupations make only 75% of what men in similar positions do.

5. Mindy Lahiri, The Mindy Project

Mindy Kaling's character on The Mindy Project may be a partner and boss at her medical practice, but she still has to work magnificently hard to be taken seriously by her male counterparts, who often write off her suggestions and improvements for the practice, like "Mindy's Minute" – which everyone initially makes fun of, but nobody can come up with a better option to get the name of the practice out there. Plus, as a native New Yorker, I can tell you RIGHT NOW that being on Taxi TV is AWESOME. I'm jealous of you, Mindy Lahiri.

Mindy is also likely wildly underpaid - female physicians and surgeons make only 64% of what their male counterparts do.

What hard-working female characters did I leave off this list? Let me know!

Becka Wall, Communications Assistant, National Women's Law Center

Data via U.S. Department of Labor