Help Us Fight Back Against Efforts to Roll Back Gender Justice
Extremist judges will not stop endangering the lives of pregnant people or people who may become pregnant—overturning Roe v. Wade, attacking medication abortion, threatening the future of IVF, and this week at SCOTUS, emergency abortion care.
Our lawyers are waging strategic fights that make clear what is at stake for people who can become pregnant and seek to bolster our fundamental rights to control our lives, futures, and destinies.
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The Wage Gap Has Made Things Worse for Women on the Front Lines of COVID-19
March 31 is Equal Pay Day, the day that marks how far womenhave to work this year to catch up to what men made last year. Women working full time, year round are typically paid only 82 cents for every dollar paid to men, which adds up to a loss of $407,760 over a 40-year career. For Black women, Latinas, and Native women, it’s nearly or over $1 million. But that number doesn’t tell the whole story, particularly as we find ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic with devastating health and economic consequences for so many.Womenare on the frontlines ofdefense against COVID-19 and its devastating consequences, whether as the first responders and people providing essential services – like those in child care, health care, and grocery stores –as well as over-represented inthe industries shedding jobs as a result ofthe public health crisis – like restaurants, retail, and hotels. For example,93 percent of child care workers, 66 percent of grocery store cashiers/salespeople, 70 percent of waiters and waitresses, and 77 percent of clothing/shoe stores cashiers/salespeople are women. Many of the workers in those jobs are women of color; for example, a majority of home healthcare and personal care aides, maids and housekeepers in traveler accommodations,and clothing and shoe store cashiers are women of color. Many of those occupations are low paidandoften fail to provide access to critical supports like paid leave, employer-sponsored health insurance, and child care.Lost earnings due to the gender wage gap are exacerbating the effects of COVID-19 for many women and women of color in these low-paid jobs — and for the families who depend on their income. Forty-one percent of mothers are the sole or primary breadwinners in their families, and they typically make only 69 cents on the dollar compared to fathers.
Examples of frontline occupations
Percent of workers who are women
Percent of women workers who are WOC
Percent of women workers who are Black
Percent of women workers who are Latina
Child care workers
93%
44%
14%
24%
Grocery store cashiers/salespeople
66%
43%
13%
22%
Home health and personal care aides
85%
59%
27%
22%
Registered nurses
88%
30%
12%
7%
Examples of industries shedding workers
Percent of workers who are women
Percent of women workers who are WOC
Percent of women workers who are Black
Percent of women workers who are Latina
Waiters and waitresses
70%
39%
9%
20%
Clothing/shoe stores cashiers/salespeople
77%
51%
17%
26%
Hotel, motel desk clerks
66%
47%
17%
21%
Maids and housekeepers in traveler accommodations
88%
77%
21%
45%
Source: NWLC calculations based on U.S. Census Bureau, 2018 American Community Survey (ACS) using IPUMS. Men and women self-identify their race and sex in the ACS.
Women experience a gender wage gap in nearly every occupation, including low– and high-wage jobs.And the over-representation of women and women of color in these low-paid jobs means women on the frontlines of COVID–19 defense are being consistently undervalued as they do the work that the rest of the country is depending on as never before. For instance, women who work as home health and personal care aides are losing $417 per month due to the gender wage gap.Conversely, the women and women of color on the frontlines of COVID-19 job lossnot only are getting hit by the economic impacts of the pandemic, but also are less able to absorb those costs because they have lost earnings due to the gender wage gap.Waitresses, for instance, have typically lost $500 per month to the gender wage gap.
Front line work
Women’s median annual earnings
Men’s median annual earnings
Amount a woman typically makes for every dollar a man typically makes
Annual difference between men’s and women’s median earnings
Monthly difference between men’s and women’s median earnings
Grocery store cashiers/salespeople
$24,000
$ 27,000
89%
$3,000
$250
Home health and personal care aides
$ 25,000
$30,000
83%
$5,000
$417
Child care workers
$22,000
$27,000
81%
$5,000
$417
Registered nurses
$65,000
$71,000
92%
$6,000
$500
Industries shedding workers
Women’s median annual earnings
Men’s median annual earnings
Amount a woman typically makes for every dollar a man typically makes
Annual difference between men’s and women’s median earnings
Monthly difference between men’s and women’s median earnings
Waiters and waitresses
$22,000
$28,000
79%
$6,000
$500
Clothing/shoe stores cashiers/salespeople
$25,000
$28,000
89%
$3,000
$250
Hotel, motel desk clerks
$24,000
$25,000
96%
$1,000
$83
Maids and housekeepers in traveler accomodations
$23,000
$28,600
80%
$5,600
$467
Source: NWLC calculations based on U.S. Census Bureau, 2018 American Community Survey (ACS) using IPUMS. Median annual earnings are for full time, year round workers. Men and women self-identify their sex in the ACS.
Women of color are especially harmed by the gender wage gap, leaving them in a precarious position in the current crisis. Black women are shortchanged $1962 per month by the gender wage gap compared to white, non-Hispanic men (which adds up to a loss of $941,600 over a 40–year career); for Latinas it’s $2336 per month (for a loss of $1,121,440 over a 40-year career).
Those lost earnings take on new meaning in the current crisis, as they leave women of color in particular with no financial cushion to deal with job loss, in the face ofhigh costsforemergency health care and medication, rent or mortgages, rising prices for supplies or food, and other expenses exacerbated by this global health crisis. The unfolding impacts of COVID-19 reveal just how many communities of women,and the families that depend on their earnings, are bearing the brunt of the longstanding gaps and underinvestment in our workplace laws, economic and social infrastructure, and policy choices that failed to center the needs of women, people of color, and families with low and moderate incomes. We need both immediateresponsesand longer term structural changesto our laws and economic infrastructure to address the impacts of this pandemicand ensure that it does not entrench and deepen gender inequity, including:
Providing emergency cash assistance for people with low incomes who won’t be reached by unemployment or tax relief until it’s too late.
Providing significant investments in child care funding to help providers and families.
Strengthening unemployment insurance to reach more workers and adopting stronger triggers so that the program can automatically respond to increased hardship
Expanding emergency paid sick time and family and medical leave protections to protect all working people by eliminating exemptions for large employers and ensuring that nonprofits can be reimbursed for emergency benefits—and enacting forward-looking provisions to ensure that these critical benefits are available to everyone outside of the circumstances of a public health emergency.
Ensuring health care, including reproductive health care, is available and affordable to all.
Requiring businesses receiving bailouts to protect their workforce against layoffs and provide decent wages to their workers.
Women and the families who depend on their income have been shortchanged by the gender wage gap for far too long, and they can’t afford to wait any longer for change during this unprecedented public health and economic crisis.