Equal Pay Day is observed in April for a specific reason : this month indicates how far into each year the average woman must work in order to earn as much as a man earns by December of the year before. Tuesday symbolizes the day when women's wages catch up to men's wages from the previous week. Over forty years ago, the first equal pay law was passed to try to offset this wage inequality.
Women just out of college may think that a law nearly twice their age is antiquated or unnecessary. After all, many young graduates assume that the difficulties faced by their mother’s generation went out with the shoulder pads of the late 1980s. Why are we still having this conversation?
The Financial Times and the Associated Press on Monday focused on a brand new study that says that the wage gap is getting worse for recent female graduates.
True, it is no longer acceptable to flirt inappropriately with your secretary or to promote your buddy over a more qualified female candidate. (Though the political old boys club in New Jersey is apparently still alive and kicking.) Sexism in the workplace has instead taken a more covert turn into a practice of subtlety and assumptions.
Statistics may not tell the whole story, but they are an important indicator of the progress (or lack thereof) that has been made in the fight for wage equality in this country.
College women outperform men in every field of academics, including math and science, but they make only 80 percent of what their male peers earn one year out of school. This figure falls dramatically to 69 percent of men’s salaries ten years after graduation. The disturbing thing is that women’s average earnings are 77 cents to a man’s dollar and are actually less than they were ten years ago. They drop even further for women of color.
Think the wage gap isn’t affecting you? Check out the wage gap calculator on Hillary Clinton’s campaign website for a little reality check.
It is because of these startling numbers that EMILY's List women Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-CT, are reintroducing legislation in both chambers of Congress that would amend the Paycheck Fairness Act and institute new provisions to further protect women’s wages.
Complacency is the birthplace of inequality. We should not lose sight of the fact that women still have to worry about receiving equal pay for equal work in their own office. Thankfully, with more and more women in the legislatures and a woman running for the most powerful job in the nation, working women have an increasing number of advocates in elected office.
