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.

*Sign our petition urging Congress to take a multifaceted approach to closing the wage gap immediately!

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]

• Latinas earn 57 cents,
• Native American women earn 57 cents,
• Black women earn 67 cents,
• White women earn 80 cents,
• Asian-American and Pacific Islander women earn 92 cents on average (with some AAPI subgroups experiencing gaps as big as 50 cents to a man’s dollar),
• Women with disabilities earn just 84 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts with disabilities,
• And last but not least, moms earn just 74 cents on the dollar to dads – with moms of color experiencing compounded wage gaps due to structural racism to the extent that Latina moms earn just 47 cents to a white dad’s dollar and Black moms earn just 52 cents to a white dad’s dollar (and as with AAPI women, when the data for moms is disaggregated, the numbers are worse for single moms). This has GOT to change. It doesn’t have to be this way.

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]:

• Comprehensive equal pay laws so that women are better able to discover and fight back against pay discrimination.
• Pay transparency policies.
• Raised wage minimums and elimination of the tipped minimum wage.
• Access to high-quality, affordable child care.
• Comprehensive federal paid family and medical leave policy.
• Healthcare for all.
• Restored and expanded access to safe and affordable abortion care.

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.

Stand with us and urge Congress to take a multifaceted approach to closing the wage gap ASAP!

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.