Medium: What We Get Wrong When We Talk About Equal Pay Day

By Amy Guth

2 April, 2019

Equal Pay Day, the day into the new year the average woman must work to equal what the average white man earned in the previous year, is, let’s be clear, fundamentally a good thing. But, we’re overlooking a key point when we talk about how to eradicate the wage gap.

For each dollar earned by the average white, male worker, white women are paid about 79 cents. The data around pay inequity for women of color is even bleaker: while for every dollar the average white man is paid, and his white, female counterpart is paid about 79 cents, this number drops significantly into the 62–54 cents per dollar range for Black and Latina women.

And often, when we talk about solutions to this inexcusable state, the main narrative quickly turns to negotiation. The AAUW website, for example, does a fine job of showing data points across gender, race and education, yet, there at the bottom of their robust data layout: a prompt to teach us how to negotiate.

Let us be clear, negotiation is not the issue. As a woman who works in print, online and broadcast journalism and filmmaking, has led a newsroom, runs a business, and serves as president of the Association for Women Journalists Chicago, I’ve been on both sides of negotiation tables in my career. And, anecdotally, I can tell you that there are as many powerful female negotiators as there are male, and just as many lousy ones.

Read the full article on Medium.