It’s Equal Pay Day and a new report from the National Partnership for Women and Families states that women are still not doing that hot when it comes to their take-home pay.
“Women in the United States who work full time, year round, are paid $10,876 less annually than men who work full time, year round – or just 78 cents for every dollar,” the report states. Collectively, they report that women “lose more than $490 billion to the wage gap every year.”
“Today is a sobering reminder that not nearly enough has been done to address unfair wages in this country,” writes the organization’s president Debra L. Ness in a statement. “Equal Pay Day marks how far into 2015 women employed full time, year round have had to work to catch up with what men were paid in 2014. At a time when women’s wages are essential to families and our economy, this gap is appalling and defies common sense. It is past time for Congress to do something about it.”
Other not-so-fun facts the organization found included that while women make up “nearly half the workforce,” median pay for a woman is $39,157 compared to a man’s $50,033.
If you’re an African-American or Hispanic woman in the workforce, the gap is even wider for you. The org found that African-American women earn just 64 cents on every dollar as compared to white men, while Hispanic women earn only 56 cents for every dollar. Asian-American women fared the best with 79 cents on the dollar. See the chart below:
This may sound like chump change to us in tech land, but as we know, there are many issues here for women as well (go ahead, ask any woman). While many outlets report that there are no real differences in men and women’s pay in tech, a recent survey of major tech companies by Glassdoor found that there is an average discrepancy: “At most of these companies, men report earning a higher base salary than women for the same role,” states Glassdoor. They also report that women tend to be “slightly less satisfied” than men with “senior leadership, culture and values, career opportunities and work-life balance” at these major tech companies.
As Fortune reported last fall, one major reason women are paid less than men in tech? We don’t ask for enough when negotiating our salaries.
One of the biggest issues facing women overall is the barrier to STEM jobs. The National Partnership also states that once women are in those roles, it is crucial that they be considered for advancement, like their male peers, and not subject to discriminatory behavior in the workplace.
Now watch Batgirl ask for equal pay in this recent video from the U.S. Department of Labor:
