John – 

This week, March 15th, to be exact, marked Equal Pay Day – the day on which the average woman in the U.S. has finally earned as much as her white male peers earned in the previous year.

While the average woman is paid 85 cents for every dollar earned by a white male peer, that number doesn’t come close to telling the whole story.

The real story is how much longer women have to work to earn the same amount of money for the same work. And as usual, women of color are far more impacted.

In particular, Black women have to work nearly 1.75 times as long to catch up to the earnings of white male peers, while Native and Latina women have to work nearly TWICE as long.

This calculation, pulled from data provided by the Department of Labor and analyzed by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), accounts for the fact that women of color are more likely to be forced into seasonal or contract jobs with lower wages, or to have to work multiple jobs to reach the same earning potential.

Pay equity requires more than just raising the wage. It demands that we remove structural barriers – like access to childcare, affordable housing, and educational opportunities – that prevent women from earning the same wage as men for the same work.

You can help Brand New Congress elect candidates who are committed to achieving pay equity for women. Your contribution today will help us turn out the vote for the 13 elections we have coming in the next 90 days.

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We want, as Senator Nina Turner often says, “our whole damn dollar.”

And we’ll get it when we raise the wage AND guarantee healthcare for all AND free college education and job training AND provide universal childcare, affordable housing and clean, efficient public transportation.

Join the fight to raise women’s wages, and contribute today.

The women of Brand New Congress