August 2020 – Equity Express
“If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free, since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.” — The Combahee River Collective, a black feminist organization co-founded by 1978-79 AAUW American Fellow Barbara Smith
Three Facts about Black Women and the Pay Gap
August 13 is Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, which marks roughly how long Black women must work into the new year to get paid what white, non-Hispanic men made at the end of the previous year. According to U.S. Census data, Black women were compensated 62% of what non-Hispanic white men were paid in 2018 — a substantially worse gap than the national earnings ratio for all women, 82%.
That’s because Black women live at the intersection of sexism and racism. While these distinct forms of discrimination manifest differently, their effects are compounded for people who experience both. For example:
- Black women’s wider-than-average pay gap persists even though Black women participate in the workforce at much higher rates than most other women.
- 80% of Black mothers are the sole, co- or primary breadwinners for their households, so a fair salary can mean the difference between struggling and surviving.
- Black women make up just 1% of high-paying engineers and 3% of the computing workforce.
Learn more about how black women are shortchanged.
Did You Know?
Lewis’s Legacy Lives. On July 27, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives voted by unanimous consent to rename federal legislation to restore voting rights protections as the “John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.”
Title IX in Trouble. This week, the Trump Administration is expected to implement a harmful rule rolling back protections for student survivors of sexual harassment and assault. Our fight for students’ rights continues.
Cancel Student Debt. Recent graduates are facing the worst unemployment crisis since the Great Depression — and women are faring worse than men. Forgiveness of at least $10,000 in student debt could help.
More on Women and Student Debt
Equity in the News
Laws prohibiting employers from asking job applicants about their salary history are chipping away at the wage gap. Boston University researchers found a 5% to 6% rise in salary among those covered under such legislation who have changed jobs in the past year. Well + Good
Seventy-six percent of families on the lowest fourth of the income scale — the majority headed by women of color — have zero paid sick leave. Ms. Magazine
Women and people of color are at the forefront of the essential workforce that is being most harmed by the pandemic. Yahoo Finance