Statement by National NOW President Christian F. Nunes
The United Nations established International Equal Pay Day on September 18, 2020, to accelerate the realization of the principle of “equal pay for equal work of equal value” and ensure recognition of women’s major contribution to the economy.
“Across all regions,” the UN says, “women are paid less than men, with the gender pay gap estimated at around 20 percent globally. Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls continue to be held back owing to the persistence of historical and structural unequal power relations between women and men, poverty, and inequalities and disadvantages in access to resources and opportunities that limit women’s and girls’ capabilities. Progress on narrowing that gap has been slow. While equal pay for men and women has been widely endorsed, applying it in practice has been difficult.”
How can we work to make that goal less difficult to achieve? The UN set up Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to address the need for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. The Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) has produced this video on “Why Does the Gender Pay Gap Still Exist?” and spotlights how transparency measures can be an essential tool to reduce inequalities.
Pay range transparency laws that require employers to disclose the pay range for a position to job seekers and employees empower job applicants and current employees with the information they need to help in their job search, inform their employment decisions, and stand up for their rights during pay negotiations with employers. Here’s a fact sheet from the National Women’s Law Center.
It’s important to keep this International Equal Pay Day in our calendars and the other Equal Pay Day observances we mark because the injustice of gender wage gaps affects all women. Worldwide, women, especially migrant women, have more low-paying jobs, with unsafe working conditions and no social benefits.
Women also perform three more hours of daily care work than men, according to the UN, including household tasks and caring for children and the elderly. The motherhood penalty exacerbates pay inequity, with working mothers facing lower wages, particularly as the number of children they have increased. Gender stereotypes, discriminatory hiring practices, and promotion decisions also contribute to pay inequalities.
This week, here in the U.S., the gender wage gap widened significantly for the first time since 2003. New census income data shows that men’s median earnings rose 3% last year, compared to 1.5% for women.
On this International Equal Pay Day, we redouble our commitment to reducing the gender pay gap at the global, regional, and national levels—and in every state and community in the U.S.