Today is equal pay day for Latinas. Last week was equal pay day for Native American women. And equal pay day for Black women was before that, in September.
You may be wondering why there are so many equal pay days.
The answer is that the gender wage gap only quantifies structural bias and discrimination based on one dimension of identity, and the dynamics of discrimination are intersectional. On average, Black, Latina, and Native American women experience wider wage gaps than white women. People with disabilities, sexual orientation, age—these are all factors that inform wage gaps.
The average wage gap faced by Latinas working full-time year-round and part-time of 54 cents to every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men.
This wage gap persists despite the fact that Latinas are one of the fastest growing, most powerful groups in the United States. Latinas are opening new businesses at the highest rate in the country and have rising rates of college enrollment and degree attainment and excel in every sector and industry in the United States.
In Pennsylvania, the Latinx population recently surpassed one million people, representing a 43% increase from a decade ago. The community is working to leverage “one million strong” into increased political representation and power in Pennsylvania in order to address much-needed policy solutions that would help close the wage gap.
Economic security is a crucial part of ensuring that Latinas can live and work with dignity and become less vulnerable to different forms of violence, and ensuring equal pay is a part of that.
This week, WLP signed on to a letter calling for the U.S. Congress to pass a resolution recognizing the disparity in wages paid to Latinas and reaffirming its support for ensuring equal pay and closing the gender wage gap.
Women’s Law Project is a public interest law center in Pennsylvania devoted to advancing and defending the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people in Pennsylvania and beyond. As a non-profit organization, we can not do this work without you.
We are a non-profit organization! Please consider supporting our work.
Sign up for WLP’s Action Alerts. Stay up to date by following us on twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can contact us here.
