5 Headlines You Won't See On Equal Pay Day
Unlike celebratory holidays like National Pet Day and National Sibling Day, today's Equal Pay Day is anything but cause for celebration, especially since some estimates show the gender wage gap will not close until year 2059.
Today, the right for fair pay for all women is part of a stark reality, where on average, women make 79 cents to every dollar a man makes. Census Bureau data indicates African-American women make 60 cents and Hispanic women make 55 cents to every dollar a man makes. And these stats are just one fact that symbolize a deeper inequity for all women.
Here are four headlines below that you won't see on Equal Pay Day, when we should be celebrating the benefits of giving fair and equal wages to all women:
1. The U.S. economy just gained more than $2 trillion dollars this year because the gender gap shrunk
According to McKinsey Global Institute study, paying women at the same rate as men would add $2.1 trillion to U.S. gross domestic product by 2025, a growth about the size of the Texas economy.
2. Women's earnings are matched penny for penny, not lost
A recent study by the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) shows the average woman can expect to lose out on nearly $500,000 in earnings over the course of her career. That number increases for African American women who lose nearly $880,000 and Latina women who lose more than $1 million over the course of their careers.
3. Poverty among working single moms falls by more than a third because of equal pay
The Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) found that if women were paid at the same rate as men, poverty among working single moms would fall by a third or more in all states.
4. In 2015, there was progress in closing the U.S. gender wage gap
A report by IWPR shows change in the American gender wage gap was not only non-existent in 2015, but actually widened. According to the analysis, the ratio of women's to men's median weekly full-time earnings was 81.1 percent, reflecting a decrease of 1.4 percentage points since 2014, when the ratio was 82.5 percent.
5. For minority women and moms, Equal Pay Day no longer comes months after April 12
Equal Pay Day, or the day a woman finally earns what a man typically earned in the past year, is actually months away for minority women and moms. According to one report, if you're Latina, your Equal Pay Day is on Nov. 1. If you are an African-American woman your Equal Pay Day is Aug. 23. For Native American women the day is said to be Sept. 13. For mothers, Equal Pay Day is June 4.
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