Women Make 77 Cents for Each Dollar Men Make in the U.S.

Posted April 25th, 2008 by Susan Gunelius in Equality

Did you know that Tuesday, April 22nd was Equal Pay Day? I didn’t. In fact, I’ve never heard of it. Why isn’t this day publicized more?

According to BizWomen.com, Equal Pay Day was created in 1996 by the National Committee on Pay Equity to draw attention to the inequality in pay between men and women in the United States. It falls on a Tuesday in April each year.

The importance of this holiday is undeniably significant. Lauren Lawley Head said it all in her post on BizWomen.com called Pay Gap Worth Steaming Over when she listed these facts:

Nationally, women make 77 cents for every $1 men earn.
In terms of annual pay, it took women from January 1, 2007 until April 2008 to make as much money as their male colleagues had made by December 31, 2007.
In terms of weekly pay, women have to work until the following Tuesday to catch up to the earnings of men in equivalent positions.

What do you think about National Pay Day? Have you heard of it? Have you participated in any activities related to National Pay Day? Leave a comment and share your experience and/or thoughts.

4 Responses to “Women Make 77 Cents for Each Dollar Men Make in the U.S.”

Joy on April 25, 2008 6:09 pm
I’ve never heard of it, but I wish I did. It irks and furstrates me whenever I think about how much lower women are earning compared to men. We work just (or even twice or thrice) as hard and yet we don’t have anything to show for it.
Susan Gunelius on April 25, 2008 9:12 pm
I completely agree, Joy.
Patrick on August 26, 2008 11:28 pm
Im kind of curious wheather that .77 to 1.00 is comparing men to women in all jobs or in the same jobs.

From what i’ve read by recent studies women typically arn’t as interested in certain jobs such as engineering (several other related jobs) which typically make more money. I’m not doubting that there is some discrimination within the job market however I think some of the discrepency might be due to lack of interest in jobs like engineering and more interest in jobs like teaching which typically make less money.
Susan Gunelius on August 26, 2008 11:37 pm
Patrick, it’s definitely true that women and men are stereotypically drawn to different kinds of jobs, but I wonder if that would change if pay gaps, discrimination and barriers to entry were lifted and everyone was on a level playing field. Check out this post about a study conducted citing the inequalities between women and men in the technical field:
http://womenonbusiness.com/equality/women-working-in-technology-still-not-equal-to-male-counterparts