Common Cents Makes Common Sense: Black Women's Equal Pay Day
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Today is Black Women's Equal Pay Day, which means it takes until the end of August for Black women to reach pay parity with White men.
Over the past two years, the US has regressed any efforts to pay Black women equally, unsurprisingly. Last year’s date was August 7th, and in 2017, it was July 31st.
As the National Women’s Law Center reports, the difference amounts to a major loss to Black Women of $23,653 a year and $946,120 over the course of a 40-year career. That is almost a MILLION DOLLARS, folks. Just for being born both Black and Woman...
Of course, we and others are speaking out across our platforms (especially our Twitter feeds) about Black women getting the payment they deserve, for all the work they do. Because, well common cents makes common sense.
Black women take on both visible and invisible labor: including our typical work duties as well as all the emotional labor Black women endure daily helping their non-black colleagues, including women, address racist behavior, and honestly, we should be able to charge for that.
In the immortal words of Rihanna, "Pay me what you owe me".
Here are the best responses to Black Women's Equal Pay Day I have seen so far.
Black women earn 61 cents for every dollar a white, non-Hispanic man makes - that means Black women had to work all of last year and 233 days into this year to earn on average what a white man made just last year.— BlackPAC (@voteblackpac) August 22, 2019
It’s time to pay us what you owe us! #BlackWomensEqualPay pic.twitter.com/eZMEZz4Ik8
Pay us our worth!— ESSENCE (@Essence) August 22, 2019
Pay us our worth!
Pay us our worth!
Pay us our worth!
Pay us our worth!
Pay us our worth!
Pay us our worth! #BlackWomensEqualPay 💸 pic.twitter.com/ctnSmTHxlf
This year, #BlackWomensEqualPay Day is more than two weeks later than it was in 2018. When I am President we won’t get mad, we’ll get pay equity. https://t.co/9noZAHjH69— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 22, 2019
Black mothers are far more likely than other mothers to be the primary or sole breadwinners for their families. #BlackWomensEqualPay is ESSENTIAL to economic stability for Black families. pic.twitter.com/b4pBf2Q3ys— Brenda Lawrence (@RepLawrence) August 22, 2019
Today is #BlackWomensEqualPayDay which highlights the hard fact that Black Women in America have to work 599 days to make what white men get in 365 days. Black Women are paid 39% less than their white male counterparts. This is true in every industry. Hollywood included. pic.twitter.com/wvpq9xJmVG— Ava DuVernay (@ava) August 22, 2019
It's time to take action towards building better spaces for Black women. Join me in standing with Black women to fight for equality in the workplace today--and always. Check out @LeanInOrg's recommendations for companies: https://t.co/WkaoUduwFx #BlackWomensEqualPayDay— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) August 22, 2019
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