Recognizing Black Women’s Equal Pay Day

July 28 is recognized by a growing number of organizations as Black Women’s Equal Pay Day. The movement reminds us that while it can be helpful to talk about average wages and we need to raise the minimum wage, aggregate figures can hide as much as they reveal. We need to ask more questions and dig deeper into the data. My thanks to Sarah Marks for her post on bitchmedia for letting us know the following facts.

Race and gender matter. We have often heard that on average women earn 78 percent of what men earn. We do not hear as often that within specific racial ethnic groups the wage difference between women and men is often less. This means that among people of color within a specific racial/ethnic group women often earn almost as much as men. However, when we compare what women of color earn and what white men earn the gap is much greater.  In 2013 African American women earned 64% of a white man’s wages. Race and gender matter.

Women of color are more likely to work in a minimum wage job than white women. A person who works full-time, 52 weeks a year, for $7.25 an hour has a take home pay of less than $20,000. It is better for people who make $10.00, of course, but even $15 and hour is not enough to lift a family of four out of poverty. 

Women make up 2/3 of all tipped workers. 

Mothers are the sole breadwinner in 34% of black families.

Raising the minimum wage is important. But the rising tide does not lift all the boats. The measure of the economy is the well-being of the people in the community, especially the people who are often placed in the most vulnerable positions economically.

Rev. David Hansen

Interfaith Worker Justice Kansas