When is Latina Equal Pay Day in 2018?
It’s no secret that, when compared to their male counterparts, women earn drastically less pay at their jobs. In fact, there’s even a day to commemorate this inequality, Equal Pay Day. On April 10th, 2018, women in the United States will recognize this year’s Equal Pay Day — a yearly milestone that marks how long a woman would have to work into the new year to match how much the average man made the previous year. Even with our culture’s strides working toward equality, women statistically make 80 cents to the average white man’s dollar — and the wage gap is even larger for women of color. This unfair pay gap means that women have to work even longer and harder to get the same amount of money for the same work.
Though women in general make far less than men, the average working Latina’s wage gap is even wider. So when is Latina Equal Pay Day this year?
Instead of 80 cents to the white man’s dollar, Latina women only make 54 cents for every dollar that a white man earns. This discrepancy creates such a pay gap that Latina Equal Pay Day isn’t until November 1st, 2018.
Yes, you read that right. This means that Latinas have to work just shy of two years in order to make what a white man earns in one.
Are you observing *all* of the Equal Pay Days? Mark your calendar!
💸 Feb 22: Asian women
💸 April 10: All women
💸 April 17: White women
💸 Sept 7: Black women
💸 Sept 27: Native women
💸 Nov 1: Latinashttps://t.co/eZgGkjIQE8 pic.twitter.com/g0xVFq13He— AAUW (@AAUW) April 2, 2018
This number puts Latina women lowest on the pay hierarchy. For Black women, Equal Pay Day is recognized in August, with the average Black woman earning 65 cents to the white man’s dollar. Native Women’s Equal Pay Day is in September, with the average Native woman earning 57 cents to the white man’s dollar. Asian American women actually have the “smallest” pay gap according to statistics — but they still only make 87 cents to the white man’s dollar.
What’s even more upsetting is that — thanks to the extremely slow closing of the wage gap — Latina women will not experience true pay equality until the year 2233.
Meaning that, 215 years from now, our great-great-granddaughters will finally be paid equal to our great-great-grandsons.
It's Latina Equal Pay Day, and that's a travesty. Sign this petition to help close the gap! https://t.co/nnNFdRGG6c pic.twitter.com/6ATFGiP9kD
— NFBPWC (@nfbpwc) November 3, 2017
Though these numbers are pretty upsetting, this doesn’t mean it’s something we need to sit quietly and endure. More women than ever are running for office — and many of them are Latinas! Not to mention that there are many ways for us to fight the wage gap in everyday life.
To ensure our voices are heard, we have to vote for women who share our narratives. That’s the only way we’ll get the pay day that we deserve.
