According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, Tuesday, March 15, 2022 was Equal Pay Day.

This date symbolizes how far into the year the average woman must work to earn what men in similar positions of employment earned in the previous year. Because women earn less on average than men, they must work longer for the same amount of pay. Additionally, it should be noted that the wage gap is even greater for most women of color.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau 2020 figures, nationally on the average, women make 83 cents on the dollar compared to men. In 2020, median annual earnings in the U.S. for men working full time, year-round were $61,417, compared to just $50,982 for women. Although this seems to be a slight improvement over 2019 (82.3 cents to the dollar), this percentage needs to be examined in light of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the workforce. Because women are more likely to be single parents, or because the wage gap means that they earn less than a male partner, they were especially impacted by the pandemic closures of schools and daycare facilities. As a result, many dropped out of the workforce altogether: there was a 4.7% drop in women working full time by the end of 2020, taking them out of consideration in the calculating of the pay gap ratio. Therefore, while it seems that the pay gap is closing, in reality, the pandemic left women and their families in a more economically insecure position.

More information about AAUW can be found at www.aauw.org, www.aauwmi.org and www.imkaauw.org or by contacting Kristine Schroeder at kristineschroeder2020@gmail.com.