It’s Time to Close the Gender Wage Gap in Columbus
April 3, 2024
Mary Lazarus Legacy in Civic Engagement Fund Celebrating Women in Society
The gender pay gap is unfair, inequitable, and even illegal – paying women less than men for the same work has been against the law in the US since 1963. And yet, based on today’s full-time, year-round wage gap, women entering the workforce stand to lose $398,160 over the course of a 40-year career. This “lifetime wage gap” exists across the country: in every state, women’s career losses based on today’s wage gap would amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars—and in 12 states women’s career losses would amount to more than half a million dollars. If progress continues at the same glacial rate as it has since 1960, it will take some 30 more years for women workers to reach pay equity with men. The average Asian American and Native Pacific Islander (AANPI) worker would need until April 3 – the day of our forum – to make as much money as their male counterparts had earned by the end of the previous year. Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander women working full-time, year-round are paid just 92 cents for every dollar paid to non-Hispanic white men. The wage gap within the Asian American community is often overlooked, and it’s far from monolithic. For example, Chinese women earn 83 cents to a white male’s dollar, Indian women earn $1.07, Bhutanese women earn 52 cents, and Nepalese women earn just 48 cents for every dollar earned by white men. Recognizing these disparities is the first step toward achieving true pay equity for Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian women. What’s being done to close the gender wage gap in Central Ohio for all women? Among other initiatives – The Columbus Commitment – a voluntary, employer-led pledge dedicated to closing the wage gap and fostering pay equity – has now been signed by over 400 Columbus-area employers to help spotlight equitable pay practices. With an expert panel, CMC dives into why the gender pay gap has been a persistent feature of the US economy for generations, the importance of a nuanced approach to addressing pay disparities, what it will take to close the gender pay gap in Central Ohio once and for all.
Featuring Barb Smoot, President & CEO, Women for Economic and Leadership Development, and First Lady Shannon Ginther, Chair, Columbus Women’s Commission, Dr. Joyce Chen, Professor of Economics, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, The Ohio State University with host Tanya Salyers, Director of Advocacy, YWCA Columbus
