November 21, 2024 is Native Women’s Equal Pay Day, a stark reminder of the systemic disparities Native women still face in the workforce and in their everyday lives. On average, Native women are paid just 52 cents for all workers and 58 cents for full-time year-round workers for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men.
As Gina Jackson, who is Western Shoshone and Oglala Lakota and CEO of the Return to the Heart Foundation writes,
“Imagine going to the store to pick up some groceries and household necessities for your family that cost $100. You open your wallet and find you only have $52. You were paid $52 for $100 worth of work. While stores would never accept $52 for the $100 worth items, Native Women are forced to accept the reality of pay inequity.”
NOW supports legislation in Congress that will redress these wrongs, including the Paycheck Fairness Act, the BE HEARD Act, the FAMILY Act, and the Healthy Families Act.
We know that voters of both parties support measures to address the needs of working families, like the initiatives to enact new paid sick time laws in Alaska, Missouri and Nebraska that just won, at the same time Donald Trump was carrying those states. Common sense solutions like paycheck fairness, protections from workplace harassment and paid family and medical insurance leave are overwhelmingly popular, urgently needed and long overdue.
On Native Women’s Equal Pay Day, we remember why Native Women are still facing these barriers to economic equality. They are woven into the historic legacy of racial discrimination that still resonates in our society.
The lasting impacts of colonialism, genocide, and state-sanctioned violence on Native communities continues to be felt today, and Native Women’s Equal Pay Day spotlights the economic toll of this shameful, destructive history.
Native Americans face higher rates of poverty, unemployment, and violence. The majority of Native American mothers are their families’ breadwinners; yet with Native women earning about half the amount of white men, they face barriers from the start that make it even more difficult to provide for themselves and their families.
What’s more, low pay, economic abuse, and the lack of employment protections are significant factors why so many cannot safely leave abusive situations.
Policies like forced relocation, the establishment of boarding schools and the removal of Native children from their families were designed to assimilate, oppress and erase Indigenous cultures. But this is not just historical fact—it. has present-day consequences for generations of Native communities. NOW members are reminded today that these policies were not only designed to control Indigenous peoples but also to erase their identities and cancel their autonomy. On Native Women’s Equal Pay Day, we stand determined to achieve equity for Native women.