Today is National Equal Pay Day, which aims to bring awareness of the gender pay gap. It is celebrated each year on a day in March or April. President Biden is marking this day by hosting U.S. Women’s national soccer team members at the White House.
History of Women’s Rights
Before we jump into National Equal Pay Day, I wanted to review some women’s rights history that many of us may have forgotten. It wasn’t until 1910 that some States began extending the right to vote to women. It wasn’t until 1920 that the 19th amendment was signed.
This means that women have only had the right to vote nationally for 101 years. Until then, only men could vote in the USA. Which left half of the population, aka, the women, silenced.
Many people think that everything has changed now, and women are now treated equally. However, this isn’t always the case. There is still a pink tax on women’s products, women still don’t have the same rights to their reproductive health as men do, and we still get paid less for doing the same jobs.
About National Equal Pay Day
American women currently earn 82 cents on average for every dollar earned by men. This happens even if the woman is doing the same job as the man. The interesting thing about Biden bringing over a women’s soccer team is that sports are a place where the difference in pay is even crazier.
You can learn about that in this short but thorough YouTube video:
The Significance of the Date?
“Each year on a day in March or April, National Equal Pay Day brings awareness to pay discrepancies between women and men for the same work. The day represents how far into the year a woman works to earn as much as a man doing the same job.”
National Day Calendar
Equal Pay Day first started in 1996 by the National Committee on Pay Equity to bring awareness to demonstrate wage inequities between men and women. For more information, visit www.pay-equity.org.
Summary: National Equal Pay Day
It is crazy that in 2021 women are still not getting paid as much as men doing the same job. Today is the day to raise awareness, and if you are an employer, you can celebrate by re-evaluating your company’s salaries. It took a lot of fighting for women to get the right to vote. If you don’t know much about it, consider reading about the suffragette movement. It will take just as much, if not more, to get women the equal rights we deserve.
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