It’s 2015, America, and on average, women still make a paltry 78 cents to a man’s dollar. Admittedly, that is an oft-quoted statistic. But there is a new report that dives a whole lot deeper and examines this discrepancy along racial, geographical and educational lines.
Women of colour are on average hit the hardest by the gender wage gap.
African-American women’s salaries were just 64% of what white men earned in 2013. And scraping the bottom of the barrel? Hispanic women, earning a meager 54%. Meanwhile, Asian-American women top the charts, making more on average than white women do and 90% of what white men make.
The pay gap continues to persist even after taking in account “life choices.”
These can include stepping out of the workforce to have children, getting married, or choosing a particular major in college. After accounting for these factors, a 7% gender wage gap existed among college graduates one year after school. Ten years after graduating from college? The gap grows to 12%.
You want the truth?
You can’t handle it. The damning report — “The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap” — by The American Association of University Women (AAUW), also breaks down the wage gap state by state, as well as Washington D.C. Interestingly, the US capital comes closest to pay equity with women earning an average of 91% of the wages that men do. Embarrassingly, Lousiana rings in at the bottom of the list where women earn a paltry 66% of what their male counterparts do.
Look. Money matters and there’s no escaping it.
And when you take into consideration that women are charged more for everyday items like razors and skin cream, the sheer fact that women suffer through this financial aberation is even more infuriating.
On Equal Pay Day, it’s important to recognize where we’re still dropping the ball on gender equality and what we can do to improve things. Enough with the excuses.