Wage gap compounds coronavirus burden on Black women

Statement on Equal Pay Day by In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda Founder and President Marcela Howell

WASHINGTON — Tomorrow, March 24, 2021, is Equal Pay Day, a day that spotlights how far into this year women must work to be paid what men were paid last year. In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda President and CEO Marcela Howell issued the following statement:

“Equal Pay Day looks at the gender gap in pay but that’s only part of the problem. While the average white woman gets $.70 cents for every dollar a white man is paid, Black women earn only $.63 cents for every dollar a white man makes doing the same job. That means that Black women’s Equal Pay Day is not until August 3, 2021. This year, that pay disparity is further compounded by the disparate impact of the pandemic.

“We know that Black women and families suffer from inadequate access to affordable, quality health care and childcare, food security challenges and unsafe housing issues at a disproportionately higher rate. As we work to close the pay gap, we also must address these other disparities. The intersections of oppression are preventing Black women — and all women of color — from accessing the resources and opportunities we need to live the American dream.”

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In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda is a national Reproductive Justice organization focused on lifting up the voices of Black women at the national and regional levels in our ongoing policy fight to secure Reproductive Justice for all women and girls. In Our Own Voice focuses on abortion rights and access, contraceptive equity, and comprehensive sex education as key policy issues. As a Reproductive Justice organization, we approach these issues from a human rights perspective, incorporating the intersections of race, gender, class, sexual orientation and gender identity with the situational impacts of economics, politics and culture that make up the lived experiences of Black women in America.