Gender wage gap costs minority women more than $1m in some states

Black and Latino women will lose more than $877,000 and $1m respectively over a 40-year career compared to their white male counterparts, according to a report by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC).

The report, which breaks down the gender wage gap by race and state, found that in 2014, Latina women earned between 54 and 55 cents for every dollar that white men made. This amounts to a 40-year career wage gap of $1,007,080 on average. Latina women lose more than a million dollars over their careers in 23 states, including the District of Columbia where the gap is highest at $1,781,720.

“A big driver of the wage gap is the gap in opportunities that push Latinas and African American women into different occupations than white men. Latina women and African American women are over-represented in low-wage jobs, for example, and under-represented in high-paying occupations like law and engineering,” said Emily Martin, vice-president for workplace justice at NWLC.

The report comes a week before African American Equal Pay Day, which takes place on the day black women catch up to white men’s pay from 2015. Latina Equal Pay Day takes place in November.

In 2014, black women earned 60 cents for every dollar earned by white men. That means that the average black woman would have to work 20 months to earn what a white man earns in 12 months.

“African American women shouldn’t need to work more than 66 years to earn what a white man earns in 40 years,” said Martin. “ If we don’t act now to ensure equal pay, for many women of color, the cost of the lifetime wage gap will surpass a million dollars. We literally can’t afford to ignore this.”

There are six states, including the District of Columbia, where the gap has already surpassed $1m:

• District of Columbia: $1,595,200
  
• New Jersey: $1,231,600
  
• Connecticut: $1,140,400
  
• Louisiana: $1,134,880
  
• California: $1,046,960
  
• Massachusetts: $1,022,440

According to NWLC, even black women with a high level of education still experience a wage gap. “African American women with a bachelor’s degree typically make $46,825 per year – only $1,849 more than white men with only a high school degree,” NWLC pointed out.

Earlier this year when celebrating equal pay day for all women, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton called for more transparency around pay in the private sector and expressed her support of the Paycheck Fairness Act. The legislation, which says that workers who talk about their pay with coworkers cannot be fired or retaliated against, has been introduced in every Congress since 1997. While serving in the US Senate, Clinton co-sponsored the bill during the 2005-2006 and 2007-2008 sessions.

“If talking about equal pay and paid leave and more opportunities for women and girls is playing the gender card, then deal me in,” she said earlier this year on Equal Pay Day, which took place on the one-year anniversary of her presidential campaign.

While speaking at the Republican national convention, Ivanka Trump surprised many when she said that her father, too, will fight for equal pay for women.

“He will fight for equal pay for equal work,” said Trump, daughter of the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Trump has previously spoken in support of equal pay without committing to any policies or expressing support of the Paycheck Fairness Act.

“If they do the same job they should get the same pay,” Trump said last year while appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “But it’s very hard to say what’s the same job. It’s a very, very tricky question and I have talked about competition with other places and other parts of the world, this is one of those things that we have to look at very strongly.”