The White House has declared March 12, 2024, as National Equal Pay Day.
This day is dedicated to recognizing the value of women's skills and their significant contributions to the labor force, acknowledging the injustice of wage inequality, and joining efforts to achieve equal pay.
The National Committee on Pay Equity originated Equal Pay Day in 1996 as a public awareness event to illustrate the gap between men's and women's wages.
The committee is a coalition of women's and civil rights organizations, labor unions, religious, professional, legal, and educational associations, commissions on women, state and local pay equity coalitions, and individuals working to eliminate sex- and race-based wage discrimination and to achieve pay equity.
Initially called "National Pay Inequity Awareness Day," National Equal Pay Day was renamed in 1998. NCPE leadership decided years ago to select a Tuesday in April as Equal Pay Day.
Tuesday was chosen to represent how far into the next work week women must work to earn what men earned the previous week.
The date is also selected to avoid religious holidays and other significant events.
Women earn less, on average than men, and they must work longer for the same amount of pay. The wage gap is even more significant for most women of color.
National Equal Pay Day highlights the injustice of gender wage gaps by marking how far into this year women have to work, on average, to earn what men made last year.
Women working full-time and year-round are paid an average of 84 cents for every dollar paid to men. Women earn less than men in more than 90 percent of occupations, and these disparities are even more significant for women of color and women with disabilities.
The pay gap is a product of the systemic barriers women have long faced when accessing good-paying jobs and opportunities.
Additionally, caregiving responsibilities for children, loved ones with disabilities, and aging family members disproportionately fall on women, which can mean missing work, cutting hours, and leaving jobs.
To advance pay equity, the Biden Administration has finalized a rule ensuring that Federal agencies no longer consider an applicant's current or past pay when determining their future salaries.
This rule eliminates pay inequities that can otherwise follow workers from job to job. The administration has also proposed regulations to advance pay equity and transparency for workers on Federal contracts.
