Women make an average of 80 to 81 cents for every dollar a man makes, which makes April 2 Equal Pay Day—the day women have made as much since January 1, 2018, as men made in 2018 alone. But that’s not the only number showing how far the U.S. has to go on pay equality.
First, that 80 cents an hour is an average. White women, black women, Native American women, and Latinas all make less, with just Asian women outstripping the average, at 85 cents. (That’s in comparison to white, non-Hispanic men.) That means women make an average of $406,760 less over a 40-year career than men do, but for Latinas, that lifetime cap is more than $1.1 million, and for both black and Native American women it’s nearly $1 million.
Pay isn’t the only inequality, though. One way women respond to discrimination is to go into business for themselves—but women get smaller loans than men, by about 31 percent. The list goes on: “women continue to face workplace hardships such as fewer promotions, less support and implicit bias. They experience pregnancy discrimination, exclusion from the so-called ‘boy’s club’ and sexual harassment.”
And the insult on top of the injury? According to a new poll, 46 percent of men agree that the pay gap “is made up to serve a political purpose.” Just 48 percent of men agree that it’s very unfair for women to make less than men for similar work, while 58 percent say that obstacles to women getting ahead are “largely gone.” Men haven’t met themselves, apparently.
This article was originally published at DailyKos on April 2, 2019. Reprinted with permission.
About the Author: Laura Clawson is labor editor at Daily Kos.
