WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper joined 32 of his colleagues to introduce a resolution honoring Black Women’s Equal Pay Day.
“Black women face dual and compounding discrimination based upon both their race and gender,” wrote the lawmakers. “Lost wages mean Black women have less money to support themselves and their families, to save and invest for the future, and to spend on goods and services, causing businesses and the economy to suffer as a result.”
In the U.S., Black women workers are paid just 66 cents for every dollar paid to non-Hispanic White men. The wage gap has only narrowed by 5 cents in the last two decades. If current trends continue, Black women wouldn’t achieve equal pay for over 200 years.
The resolution is supported by Equal Pay Today, Equal Rights Advocates, Family Values @ Work, National Partnership for Women and Families, Institute for Women’s Policy Research, A Better Balance, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Black Women’s Roundtable, Women Employed, National Women’s Law Center Action Fund, National Council of Jewish Women, Shriver Center on Poverty Law, American Association of University Women, ERA Coalition, Legal Momentum – The Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Council of Negro Women, National Black Worker Center, Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable, Oxfam America, NAACP, Maine Women’s Lobby & MWL Education Fund, Pro-Choice North Carolina, 9to5, National Urban League.
The full text of the resolution is available HERE.
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