Mind the (wage) gap
DYK that today is Equal Pay Day? This national day, which symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year, originated in 1996 by the National Committee on Pay Equity, in order to bring awareness to the pay gap. (So, Equal Pay Day is on April 10 this year, marking the 99 days from the start of 2018 that a woman must work to make what a typical man would have made by the end of 2017.)
Yesterday, the National Partnership for Women & Families, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, released their annual report based on U.S. Census Data, which found that median annual pay for a woman who holds a full-time, year-round job is $41,554, while the median annual pay for a man who holds a full-time, year-round job is $51,640. Which means that overall, women in the United States are paid 80 cents for every dollar paid to men– amounting to an annual gender wage gap of $10,086.
According to the U.S. Joint Economic Committee, the U.S. economy is $2 trillion bigger today than it would have been if women had not increased their presence in the workforce over the past 30 years. And while there are major gains being made towards gender equality, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that based on current rate of change, the gap will not close until 2059.
Oftentimes, this wage gap is explained as result of women choosing careers in lower-paid, female-dominated industries. However, according to the Economic Policy Institute, “these ‘choices’ stem from a lifetime of decisions shaped by economic and social forces.”
So it begs the question – what we can we do to help close this pay gap, support the female workforce + grow as an economy?
The pay gap in S.C., by the numbers:
$10 billion: The amount that South Carolina women, who are employed full-time, have the potential to earn by closing the wage gap.
In comparison to full-time working white men, the following races of full-time working women make the below:
- White women: 74 cents on the dollar
- Latino women: 54 cents on the dollar
- African American women: 53 cents on the dollar
$11,000: The median annual difference between men’s + women’s salaries in South Carolina.
26,140: The number of workers S.C. will need added to the workforce per year over the course of the next 10 years. If women fill these positions, it will increase the state’s percentage of women in the workforce from 48.3% to 54% by 2025.
2088: The year in which women in South Carolina will see equal pay, if current trends continue.
3 ways to help close the wage gap here in Columbia + beyond:
- Encourage women to negotiate
- Based on an experiment in which men + women had to negotiate their salary, research found that women don’t typically value themselves as highly as they should, and they’re better at negotiating for others than they are themselves. Here’s why, when + how women should negotiate their salaries.
- Support STEM + STEAM education in girls
- STEM programs (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)
- STEAM programs (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math)
- Support female-owned + run businesses
While some of the wage gap does indeed deal with gender parity, 62% can be attributed to occupational + industry differences, differences in experience + education, and factors such as race, region + unionization. It’s the remaining 38% that we need to work on together.
Happy Equal Pay Day, Cola. 💪
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