If you’re a woman, celebrate Tuesday. That’s the day your earnings equal a man’s earnings from the previous week. In April 1998, President Bill Clinton signed a proclamation declaring National Equal Pay Day– the day when a typical woman’s earnings for that year plus the previous year equaled the typical male’s earnings. Equal Pay Day, a symbolic day that illustrates how many extra days a woman must work to earn the same amount as a man, usually falls on a Tuesday in April.
In 1998, a woman working full-time earned 74 cents for each dollar a man earned. Today, she earns 77 cents for each dollar earned by a man. Lack of education is not the problem– 29% of U.S. women 25 and older have at least a bachelor’s degree compared to 30% of men. According to Sen. Chris Dodd, who supports the Paycheck Fairness Act, “The average women in my state of Connecticut needs a bachelor’s degree just to earn what a man with a high school diploma earns.”
On the west coast, elimination of the wage gap means a working woman could afford:
100 more weeks of food bills
8 more months of mortgage and utilities payments
16 more months of rent
4 more years of family health insurance premiums
More than 4000 additional gallons of gas
88 more weeks of food bills
10 more months of mortgage and utilities payments
18 more months of rent
4.5 more years of family health insurance premiums
Almost 4000 additional gallons of gas
70 more weeks of food bills
6 more months of mortgage and utilities payments
12 more months of rent
2.8 more years of family health insurance premiums
Over 3000 additional gallons of gas
54 more weeks of food bills
3 more months of mortgage and utilities payments
6 more months of rent
2 more years of family health insurance premiums
More than 2000 additional gallons of gas
Wage gap statistics for these and other states come from
The National Partnership for Women & Families.. As they point out:
“The current wage gap has improved at a rate of less than half a cent per year since 1963 when women were paid 58.9 cents for every dollar paid to men.
And assuming the same rate of improvement, the gender wage gap would not close completely until around 2058 or until today’s high school students are about ready to collect Social Security benefits.”
Next Tuesday, if you don’t feel like celebrating that extra time you worked because you’re not paid fairly, contact your senator and let them know you want them to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. Then, if you believe you deserve equal pay for equal work, join the National Partnership for Women & Families and tell them, “No. I don’t want to wait another 50 years for a fair wage.
Lyn Harris, DMS
“Alone Now and Remembering So Much” is posted on my other blog, Wednesday’s Woman.