This year Equal Pay Day was observed on Tuesday, March 15. According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, the date itself symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.
Because women on average earn less than men, they must work longer to obtain the same amount of pay.
Even though there is a woman leading in the White House today and Pres. Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pair Act into law in 2009, women are still fighting for equal pay in the United States.
The illustration shows the dramatic difference in earnings between the sexes to raise public awareness about the inequality in wages.
The greatest gap in wages is between women of various minority groups. The widest gap in wages overall is between the earnings of Black women compared to White men
- In 2021, of adults age 25 and older who had completed a bachelor’s degree or more, 53.1% were women and 46.9% were men. (Source: Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Although woman have become more educated and degreed over the last 3 decades, most degree holding women still make less than men.
BACKGROUND
“Equal Pay Day was originated by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) in 1996 as a public awareness event to illustrate the gap between men's and women's wages. (It was originally called ‘National Pay Inequity Awareness Day’ and changed to Equal Pay Day in 1998.)
“Since Census statistics showing the latest wage figures will not be available until late August or September, NCPE leadership decided years ago to select a Tuesday in April as Equal Pay Day. (Tuesday was selected to represent how far into the next work week women must work to earn what men earned the previous week.) The date also is selected to avoid religious holidays and other significant events." (Source: US Census Bureau)