More Than Just Numbers: The Human Cost of Gender Wage Gaps
Imagine starting a job on January 1, working diligently 40 hours a week, and not getting paid a cent until July of that year. Or until October. Or November. This is the reality of the gender pay disparities across race and ethnicity, because women still make between $0.52 - $0.78 for every $1 a white non-Hispanic makes. (source: National Women’s Law Center, 2023 Wage Gap Fact Sheet)
A breakdown: Black women working full time, year-round are paid only 69 cents for every dollar paid to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts. Latinas 57 cents; and Native American women paid only 59 cents. This further translates to a lifetime loss over a 40-year career of $884,800 for Black women, $1,218,000 for Latinas, $1,149,880 for Native women. (source: National Women’s Law Center, 2023 Wage Gap Fact Sheet)
Do you know what $1,000,000+ could do to my life?! That could have been significantly multiplied via investments for retirement or could have eased the cost of living and rising inflation burdens for me and millions of women.
The stats are even more dismal when it comes to wealth ownership and will make you want to flip tables! For every one dollar of accumulated wealth that white families have, Black families have ONE CENT. Hispanic families, just EIGHT CENTS. (source: Northwestern University/Federal Reserve Study)
The above reasons and more are why I shared my subject matter expertise on gender pay equity and salary transparency at the Equal Pay Day panel organized by Women Employed and the Equal Pay Coalition of Chicago, featuring Illinois Lt. Gov. Julianna Stratton (I fan girl’d a bit!)
Gender pay disparities are all our problems to solve, regardless of gender. And some ways to do that is to get educated and involved in social responsibility, DEI, and financial inclusion efforts.
Below is a link to the recording of the panel, as well as other resources to better educate yourself on how to be part of the solution.
Equal Pay Chicago Coalition Pay Equity Series: Making Salary Transparency Work
