Wednesday was International Women's Day. It was also "A Day Without a Woman," a protest encouraging participants to skip work or school and avoid spending money to highlight the significant role women play in society.
The global day of protest aimed to accelerate gender parity – especially when it comes to the persistent gender wage gap.
In the U.S., a woman who works full-time is paid, on average, 83 cents for every dollar a man is paid.
And gender pay gaps are even wider for black and Hispanic women, who are paid only 65 cents and 59 cents on the white male dollar, respectively, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
U.S. workers with a four-year college degree make significantly more over their lifetime than those who don't go to college. Education counts for at least part of the wage disparity for black and Hispanic women, since lower shares of blacks and Hispanics are college-educated than whites, according to Pew Research Center.
Here are some other facts about the gender pay gap, according to NPR:
- On average, women have been making progress. In the early 1960s, they made 59 cents for every dollar men did.
- Part of the pay difference can be explained by the disproportionate representation of women in lower-paying jobs, such as maid, teacher and retail clerk.
- Both older women and women of color experience larger pay discrepancies than younger white women.
- More than one-third of the pay gap simply cannot be explained by anything you can measure, such as hours worked, age or years of education.
Sarah Jane Glynn is director for women’s economic policy at the Center for American Progress. She explains the gender wage gap in the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkLmq03i2xM">video below:
