Today is Equal Pay Day! [View All]

[redqueen]

http://www.pay-equity.org/day.html

Equal Pay Day

Each year, the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) organizes the national observance of Equal Pay Day to raise awareness about unfair pay for women and people of color in America. In 2004, Equal Pay Day was on Tuesday, April 20. Equal Pay Day is observed in April to indicate how far into each year a woman must work to earn as much as a man earned in the previous year. Tuesday symbolizes the day when women's wages catch up to men's wages from the previous week. Because women on average earn less, they must work longer for the same pay. For women of color, the wage gap is greater, as shown in our fact sheet.


The wage gap is widening... we need to keep talking about this. Most single-parent households are headed by women!


The gap between median earnings of full-time, year-round workers widened last year, with women's earnings 76% of men's, down from 77% in 2002. Women's earnings were $30,724, compared to $40,668 for men. The last time the female-to-male earnings ratio declined was 1998-99 (see table, "The Wage Gap over Time").

Median earnings for women of color continue to be lower, in general, than earnings for men as a whole. In 2003, the earnings for African American women were $26,989, 66% of men's earnings (down from 68% last year); Latinas at $22,363, 55% of men's earnings (down from 56% last year); and Asian American women at $32,446, 80% of men's earnings (wage gap remained the same).