Equal Pay Day

April 08, 2014

About Equal Pay Day

Equal Pay Day is held annually in April to signify the point into a year that a woman must work to earn what a man made the previous year.  Census statistics released in September, 2010 show that women still earn 77 percent of what men earn, based on the median earnings of full-time, year-round workers in 2009.  An alternative to the wage gap, which is measuring the ratio between women’s and men’s median weekly earnings for full-time workers was 80.2 percent in 2009, which is flat since the historical high of 81.0 percent in 2005.

Median earnings for most women of color are even lower. In 2009, the earnings of African American women was 67.5 percent of all men’s earnings, and Latinas’ earnings were 57.7 percent of all men’s earnings.  Asian American women’s earnings in 2009 were 90 percent of all men’s earnings.  Gender wage discrimination has been illegal since President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act in 1963 but the wage gap persists. Women earned 59 cents to every dollar earned by men in 1963, but progress has slowed and the gender wage gap widened slightly from 77.8 to 77.1 percent between 2007 and 2008. More statistics on the gender wage gap.

Equal Pay Day Toolkit

Equal Pay Day is excellent opportunity to organize activities and events to bring attention to the wage gap. Download the Equal Pay Day Toolkit to access the following helpful tools to assist with the planning of your events and activities.

Additional Resources