5 Ways to Address The Gender Pay Gap

Yes, it’s 2023 and we’re still talking about the gender pay gap. The gender pay gap remains a major contributor to the economic insecurity faced by women and their families in the long term. Despite working full-time, year-round, women earn only 84 cents for every dollar a man makes, resulting in a loss of up to $400k over their careers. That is a hard number to swallow. To make ends meet, many women are forced to cobble together part-time, seasonal, and side-gig work.

When we factor in these jobs alongside full-time work, the average woman is paid only 77 cents for every dollar paid to the average man. This perpetuates a cycle of poverty that prevents women from affording basic necessities. Eliminating it would provide women with additional money every year to cover expenses like childcare, rent, health insurance, and student loan debt—something every human deserves.

Here are 5 ways to address the gender pay gap:

1. Promote pay transparency: Making information about salaries and compensation publicly available can help expose any disparities in pay and enable companies to take corrective action.
2. Encourage flexible work arrangements: Telecommuting, part-time work, or job sharing are arrangements that can help women balance work and family responsibilities and increase their earning potential.
3. Provide equal opportunities for education and training: Women should be provided with equal opportunities for education and training. This will help to increase their skills and qualifications, which in turn can lead to higher-paying jobs and greater earning potential.
4. Implement diversity and inclusion policies: This can include measures such as anti-discrimination policies, training programs on unconscious bias, and diversity initiatives.
5. Advocate for legislative change: Addressing the gender wage gap requires advocacy for legislative change at the local, state, and federal levels. This can include measures such as equal pay legislation, paid family leave policies, and affordable childcare initiatives.

While this is a complex issue, one of the biggest things we can do is demand Congress take action and pass the #PaycheckFairnessAct to help end pay discrimination against women, particularly women of color. Passing this act would help to ensure that women are paid the same as men for performing the same job. Take action and tell your representative to support this bill so women—especially women of color—are paid what they’re owed! #EqualPayNow