Today is Equal Pay Day, the date that symbolizes how far into the new year the average woman’s earnings catch up to the average man’s from the previous year. (Think about that for a second. That puts the average woman’s salary a little over three months behind a man’s.)
FACTS ON EQUAL PAY
Here are the latest stats on pay parity:
Full time-working women earn, on average, 77 percent of what their male counterparts earn. (For African-American women and Latinas, the pay gap is significantly greater at, on average, 64 cents and 55 cents respectively. The pay gap is smallest for Asian-American women who earn 87 percent of what their male counterparts earn.)
The Equal Pay Act was signed into law by President Kennedy in 1963. At that time, women earned 59 cents on the dollar compared to men.
While strides have been made to close the pay gap, as evidenced by the above statistics, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research says that, at the current pace, the wage gap won’t be closed until the year 2058.
For those who think the pay gap penalizes women only during their working years, think again. It also results in lower Social Security and pension benefits.
Geography matters. The pay gap is smallest in Washington, D.C. where, according to 2012 statistics, women earned 90 percent of what men earned for the same work and with the same educational background. Women in Wyoming earn 64 percent of what men earn.
Last year, Equal Pay Day was on April 9.
Today, President Obama will sign two executive orders on equal pay. One would prohibit federal contractors from taking action against employees who discuss their compensation with one another. The second order would require federal contractors to report wage-related data to the government, in the hope of making them accountable for sex- or race-based salary discrepancies. Note that similar bills were voted down twice in Congress. Congress is expected to vote on this Paycheck Fairness Act this week. If this legislation is important to you, urge your representatives to vote for the Paycheck Fairness Act.
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