Black Women’s Equal Pay Day 2016

Combo

BLACK WOMEN’S EQUAL PAY DAY

August 23, 2016

Join the Twitter storm from 2-3PM! #ClockOut4EqualPay #BlackWomensEqualPay #60Cents #EqualPay

Did you know that black women only earn 60¢ for every dollar made by white, non-Hispanic men? As a result, black women must work an extra 238 days, or almost 8 more months – from January 1, 2015 to August 23, 2016 – before they earn the same amount that a white man made in 2015 alone. Black Women’s Equal Pay Day marks the time into the next year that the average black woman would have to work in order to earn as much as a white man did last year.

Over the course of a 40-year career, Black women would typically lose $877,480 to the wage gap – this means that a Black woman would have to work more than 66 years to earn what a white man would make in 40 years. In six states, Black women would lose over $1 million to the wage gap over a 40-year career.1

Download your Black Women’s Equal Pay Day 2016 timecard, Facebook cover photo, instructional flyer, and more here!

Want to do more? Check out these other events around the country!

 

HOW YOU CAN #ClockOut4EqualPay ON SOCIAL MEDIA

On or before August 23rd:

1. Take a selfie holding the symbolic time card graphic that you can post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media platform on August 23rd.

The goal of the picture is to show you metaphorically clocking out of work at 1:48 p.m.—the time (60% into a regular 9-5 workday) that the average Black woman would leave work to account for the typical wage gap if she were paid at the same hourly rate as the average white man.  We want to see pictures from ALL demographic groups, regardless of whether you are employed.  A diverse group of participants will make this an incredibly powerful tool to build the nationwide solidarity we need to end pay inequity!

 BWEPD2016TimeCard

Want to join the #ClockOut4EqualPay campaign but don’t have a printer? Email us your selfie holding a piece of paper the size of a small envelope to info@atlantawomenforequality.org, and we’ll do the rest!

No Printer Instructions

2. Attend our Facebook event and invite your friends to join us!

On August 23rd:

1. Post your selfie on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or any other social media platforms. Mention us in your tweets @Women4Equality, and use the hashtags #ClockOut4EqualPay, #BlackWomensEqualPay, #60Cents, and #EqualPay. Let’s make this a trending topic!

2. Share information about Black Women’s Equal Pay Day using the hashtags #ClockOut4EqualPay, #BlackWomensEqualPay, #60Cents, and #EqualPay.

Feel free to use some of our sample tweets, or create your own!

  • August 23, 2016 is Black Women’s Equal Pay Day. Equal pay for equal work. #BlackWomensEqualPay #ClockOut4EqualPay #60Cents
  • Join the Black Women Equal Pay Day Twitter storm on August 23, 2-3pm by tweeting a selfie with a symbolic time card! #ClockOut4EqualPay
  • $0.60 isn’t change for $1, so why pay a Black woman $0.60 when a white man would get $1? #ClockOut4EqualPay #BlackWomensEqualPay #60Cents
  • For each $1 men earn, the avg woman makes $0.79, but Black women only make $0.60 to the white male $1. #BlackWomensEqualPay #60Cents
  • Black women must work 238 extra days into 2016 to August 23, 2016 to take home what white men made in 2015. #BlackWomensEqualPay #60Cents
  • Black women must work almost 20 months to make what a white man makes in 12 months. Does that sound fair? #BlackWomensEqualPay #60Cents
  • Black women make on avg $22,355 less than men every year, or $877,480 less over a 40-year career. #BlackWomensEqualPay #ClockOut4EqualPay
  • Black women with a B.A. are only paid what a white man with some college but w/o a degree earn. Does that sound fair? #BlackWomensEqualPay
  • Pay discrimination is an unacceptable injustice. #BlackWomensEqualPay #ClockOut4EqualPay #60Cents

You can also post our Black Women’s Equal Pay Day infographics!

3. Follow Atlanta Women for Equality on social media throughout the day for updates! You can find us on Facebook, Twitter (@Women4Equality), Pinterest, and Instagram (@AtlantaWomen4Equality).

BWEPD 2016 Flyer    BWEPD 2016 infographic

Download your Black Women’s Equal Pay Day 2016 timecard, Facebook cover photo, instructional flyer, and more here!

Download Black Women’s Equal Pay Day infographics here!

Want to do more? Check out these other events around the country!

 

WHY WE NEED BLACK WOMEN’S EQUAL PAY DAY

Not only does the typical Black woman earn less than the typical woman in general, Black women’s wages have declined more than three times as much as earnings for all women.2

The Wage Gap’s Impact on Families

On average, Black women earn $21,937 less than white men every year.3 In 2014 dollars, this is enough to pay for:4

  • Feeding a household of four for two years with over $6,300 to spare
  • The median cost of rent and utilities for two years with over $1,500 to spare
  • Full-time child care for a four-year-old for two years with over $6,600 to spare
  • Health insurance premiums in an employer-sponsored program for four years with over $3,800 to spare
  • Student loan payments for five years with over $2,300 to spare
  • More than 375 tanks of gas

Across Occupations5

  • Black women working as physicians and surgeons make 52¢ for every dollar paid to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts.
  • Black women working as customer service representatives make 79¢ for every dollar paid to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts.
  • Black women working as personal care aides make 85¢ for every dollar paid to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts.
  • Black women working as construction laborers make 85¢ for every dollar paid to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts.

Low-Wage Workforce

Black women are overrepresented in some of the most poorly paid jobs in the nation, such as child care workers, restaurant servers, and housekeepers.6

  • Black women make up 10.7% of the low-wage workforce, over 75% more than their share of the overall workforce, 6.1%.
  • Even within the low-wage workforce, Black women working full-time, year-round are typically paid just 74.5¢ of every dollar their white male counterparts make.

Upward Mobility

The wage gap may make it more difficult for Black women to move upward through the middle class.

  • Only 26% of minority women live in families with an income considered to be “upper-middle-class and above,” defined as an income of $58,000 or more. However, 46% of white women and 60% of white men have achieved this level of family income.7
  • Women overall have seen their annual earnings increase by 32% since 1974, but Black women’s annual earnings have increased only 22%.8

 

MORE INFORMATION

Download National Women’s Law Center‘s very helpful factsheet for more information about the wage gap and its impact on Black women.

Download the Institute for Women’s Policy Research‘s new publication Black Women Are Among Those Who Saw the Largest Declines in Wages Over the Last Decade, which includes median earnings by state.

See the Institute for Women’s Policy Research‘s new, comprehensive analysis on state and national level data on Black women and women of color, including earnings and employment, health, violence and safety, and political participation. The IWPR’s briefing paper, The Union Wage Advantage, includes data on unions by race/ethnicity.

See 9to5 Atlanta‘s fact sheet and learn about their #Slay4EqualPay campaign.

 

 

The #BlackWomensEqualPay Day twitter storm is co-sponsored by 9to5, A Better Balance, AFL-CIO, AFSCME, American Association of University Women, American Association of University Women- CA, American Civil Liberties Union, American Women, Atlanta Women for Equality, Black Women’s Health Imperative, California Women’s Law Center, Catalyst, Coalition of Labor Union Women, Equal Pay Today! Campaign, Equal Rights Advocates, Family Values @ Work, Fem2pt0, Feminist Majority, Institute for Science and Human Values, Labor Project for Working Families, Michigan Progressive Women’s Caucus, MomsRising, NARAL Pro-Choice America, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, National Council of Jewish Women, National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Employment Law Project, National Partnership for Women & Families, National Women’s Law Center, PowHer New York, Erika Geiss, State Rep. (MI–HD 12), The National Organization for Women, Tides, Women’s Law Project, WREN. Click on links to follow each co-sponsor on Twitter.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. The typical Black woman, working full-time, year-round in 2014 earned $33,533, while the typical white, non-Hispanic man made $55,470. All data is calculated based on the most recent U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, which uses 2014 wage and salary income. See National Women’s Law Center, Equal Pay for African American Women, available at https://nwlc.org/resources/equal-pay-for-african-american-women (last visited Aug. 19, 2016). ↩
  2. See Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Status of Women in the States (2016), available at http://statusofwomendata.org/women-of-color/ (last visited Aug. 22, 2016). ↩
  3. See National Women’s Law Center, Equal Pay for African American Women, available at https://nwlc.org/resources/equal-pay-for-african-american-women (last visited Aug. 19, 2016). ↩
  4. Calculations for each item are based on the following sources: Groceries – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Official USDA Food Plans: Cost of Food at Home at Four Levels, U.S. Average, August 2014 (2014), available at http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/CostofFoodAug2014.pdf (last visited Aug. 19, 2106). Calculation is based on the USDA thrifty food plan for a family of four (two adults19-50 and children 6-8 and 9-11) estimated at $650.80 per month. Rent and utilities – U.S. Census Bureau, American Housing Survey: 2013, Table C-10-AO. Housing Costs – All Occupied Units, available at http://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/ahs/data/2013/ahs-2013-summary-tables/national-summary-report-and-tables—ahs-2013.html (last visited Aug. 19, 2016). Median housing costs for renters is $850 per month in 2013. The set of 2013 data released by the U.S. Census Bureau is closest to 2014 dollars. Child Care – Child Care Aware of America, Parents and the High Cost of Child Care: 2015 Update (2015), Appendix III, available at http://usa.childcareaware.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Parents-and-the-High-Cost-of-Child-Care-2015-FINAL.pdf. Average child care costs for Alaska for a four-year-old ($7,652 per year, or $637.67 per month). Calculations use 2014 data, and Alaska costs for this type of child care falls at the median of all state averages, including the District of Columbia. Health insurance premiums – U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey: 2014. Table II.D.2 (2014) Average total employee contribution (in dollars) per enrolled employee for family coverage at private-sector establishments that offer health insurance by firm size and State: United States, 2014, available at https://meps.ahrq.gov/data_stats/summ_tables/insr/state/series_2/2014/tiid2.pdf. Average monthly contribution for employer-based family coverage was $4,518 or  $376.50 per month. Loan Payments – The Institute for College Access and Success, The Project on Student Debt, Student Debt and the Class of 2014, available at http://ticas.org/sites/default/files/pub_files/classof2014.pdf. Average monthly payment for a class of 2014 bachelor’s degree with the average student debt of $28,950 for students who had loans. Calculation assumes ten-year standard repayment plan and all debt in the form of direct unsubsidized loans and single taxpayer status with 6.2% interest. Monthly payments of $324 calculated using the Department of Education’s loan repayment calculator, available at https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/mobile/repayment/repaymentEstimator.action. Tanks of Gas – Calculations based on average tank of gas in 2014 and a 17-gallon tank. Gas prices from U.S. Energy Administration, Weekly Retail Gasoline and Diesel Prices, available at http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_gnd_dcus_nus_a.htm (last visited Aug. 19, 2016). Average cost of all grades of gasoline in 2014 rounded to $3.44 per gallon. ↩
  5. National Women’s Law Center, Equal Pay for African-American Women (Aug. 2016), available at https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/NEW_Equal-Pay-for-African-American-Women.pdf. NWLC calculations based on American Community Survey 2010-2014 (5-year average) using Steven Ruggles, Katie Genadek,Ronald Goeken, Josiah Grover, and Matthew Sobek. Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 6.0 (Machine-readable database). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2015, available at https://usa.ipums.org/usa/. ↩
  6.  Id. The low-wage workforce is comprised of workers in occupations that typically pay $10.50 or less. Data are for employed workers in 2014. ↩
  7.  Note that statistic includes all minority women. Vicki Lovell, Heidi Hartmann, and Claudia Williams, Women at Greater Risk of Economic Insecurity: A Gender Analysis of the Rockefeller Foundation’s American Worker Survey (2008), available at http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/women-at-greater-risk-of-economic-insecurity-a-gender-analysis-of-the-rockefeller-foundation2019s-american-worker-survey. ↩
  8.  Wages for white, non-Hispanic women have increased 38% in the same period. See U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 2014 Annual Social and Economic Supplement, Table P-38: Full-Time, Year-Round Workers by Median Earnings and Sex, available at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/data/historical/people/. ↩
Atlanta, GA
Theme: Overlay by Kaira.