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Dear Friend,
Today is Equal Pay Day for women across the country. We use this day to highlight the persistent pay gap by marking how far into the year women of all races and ethnicities combined, on average, must work to earn what men earned in the previous year. [1] This is NOT okay, Today is NOT a celebration.
It’s nothing short of outrageous that right now, today, on average women, working full-time, year round, earn just 84 cents to a man's dollar. When you factor in part-time, seasonal, & gig work that number drops to just 77 cents! But, those stats don’t even tell the whole story, so let’s break it down.
On average this is the breakout for what women earn compared to white men. [2]
There’s a pattern in all those stats and a wake-up call in the numbers that can’t be ignored:
Gender justice, racial justice, and economic justice are tied together -- and one never happens without the others. It’s time for us to raise our voices.
The fact that we are highlighting this grievous miscarriage of justice mid-way through our celebration of Women’s History Month, is not lost on us. That is why we need strong, common sense policy solutions to achieve pay equity for women, like [3]:
In good news, solutions to end wage discrimination are possible. Studies show that passing the policies listed above helps close the wage gaps. The time to pass them is yesterday.
The wage gap robs women of HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars over the course of a lifetime [4]. This is life-changing money that would help lift women and families out of poverty; help women save more for retirement; help women start small businesses; and boost our economy.
Life. Changing. Money.
We’ll keep fighting until we achieve pay equity. Until then, we’ll keep using this Equal Pay Day, and all the other Equal Pay Days on the calendar as rallying cries to work together to close the wage gap.
Together we’re a powerful force for women and families.
-Taylor, Ruth, Kristin and the entire MomsRising.org / MamásConPoder.org team
P.S. Have you been hearing about all the pay transparency laws cropping up in states across the country? We’d love to hear from you – what would it mean to have pay transparency at your job? In your state? Share your thoughts with us here!
References:
[1] How to Make the Wage Gap an Injustice of the Past – AAUW
[2] [3] A Window Into the Wage Gap: What’s Behind it and How to Close it
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