Equity & Woman Power

The month of March has two dates that are important to women in the US. March 8th is International Women’s Day and March 24th is Equal Pay Day. When it comes to equity, we’ve come a long way, but there is still more work to be done to achieve equal pay for men and women.

Women working full time in the U.S. are paid 84% of what men earn. At the current rate of change, we won't achieve pay equality until 2088. AAUW's report, The Simple Truth About the Gender Wage Gap, shows that a gap exists at all levels of work in almost every occupation. There is a gender pay gap in every state.

The experience of men and women across the wage distribution differs considerably, but the gender wage gap persists no matter how it’s measured. Women are paid less than men as a result of occupational segregation, devaluation of women’s work, societal norms, and discrimination, all of which took root well before women entered the labor market.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, despite gains in educational attainment over the last five decades, women still face a significant wage gap. Among workers, women are more likely to graduate from college than men and are more likely to receive a graduate degree than men. Even so, women are paid less than men at every education level.

Among workers who have only a high school diploma, women are paid 21.3% less than men. Among workers who have a college degree, women are paid 26.8% less than men. That gap of $13.52 on an hourly basis translates to roughly $28,000 less annual earnings for a full-time worker. Women with an advanced degree also experience a significant the wage gap, at 25.2% in 2023. What’s very stark from the data is that women with advanced degrees are paid less per hour, on average, than men with college degrees. Men with a college degree only are paid $50.37 per hour on average compared with $48.21 for women with an advanced degree.

As International Women’s Day ends and Equal Pay Day approaches, I applaud the strides we have made in the past 5 years, but I look forward to even more equalization in 2025 especially since project management is the most in-demand skill among employers today.