U.S. Falls Short in Equal Pay for Women, Minorities

March 8 was International Women’s Day (IWD) - a day meant to raise awareness about violence against women and the struggle for equal opportunities in economic, political and social arenas.  First celebrated in 1911, the founders of IWD fought for better pay, shorter hours and voting rights.  Over one million men and women attended rallies that year in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland to show support for women’s rights.

 In 1995, the United Nations recognized IWD by adopting its Declaration and Platform for Action, a blueprint for advancing women’s rights in all dimensions of life - 17,000 participants joined by 30,000 activists worked for two weeks to craft the Platform which was ultimately signed by 189 governments.

This year the World Conference for Women reflected on what the Platform has accomplished over the last 20 years.  UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, told the audience that “more girls have attained more access to more education than ever before, the number of women dying in childbirth has been almost halved, more women are leading business, government and global organizations but we must acknowledge that the gains have been slow and uneven, and that we must do far more to accelerate progress everywhere.”

No country has yet closed all aspects of the gender gap.  One area where the United States continues to fall short is equal pay. The American Association of University Women (AAUW) looked at how the gender pay gap affects U.S. women in different locales, with different educational attainments, at different ages, and with different jobs. 

They found that while gender pay gaps exist in every state, there are huge differences by location.  Jobs in Washington D.C. come closest to pay equity.  There, women are paid 91 percent of male wages.  The largest gap is in Louisiana where women are paid just 66 percent of male wages. California is tied for fourth with Florida and Arizona at 84 percent.

There are gaps in almost every occupation.  Women of color have higher pay gaps - the largest experienced by Hispanic women who make just 54 percent of white male earnings.  Women typically make about 90 percent of what men make until they are 35.  After that the gap increases as raises and promotions come more slowly to women than to men.

Education - once thought to be the equalizer - isn’t the full answer.  While women with higher educational attainments do make more money, they still make less than male employees at all levels of education.

The rate of closing the gap has slowed over the last decade.  At the current pace, the pay equity gap won’t be closed until 2139.  We can and must do better than that.