March is Women’s History Month. As we spent the month reflecting on the movement for women’s equality and celebrating the numerous women – particularly Black women leaders – who have fought for justice and paved the way for a more equitable future, we also celebrated Equal Pay Day on March 25th.
Equal Pay Day serves as a reminder of the persistent wage gap between men and women. This last year, for every dollar a man earned, a woman working the same amount only earned 75 cents on average. The gap is even wider for BIPOC women, disabled women and moms.
There are many causes for this disparity: sexism and hiring bias, as well as a lack of pay transparency, often keep women’s wages low, as does the devaluation of jobs like hospitality, caregiving, and domestic work, which are frequently derided as “women’s work” and poorly compensated. One critical (and often-overlooked) aspect of equal pay is ensuring that workplaces systemically support women’s health and caregiving needs, whether it’s allowing pregnant workers to sit down or take additional breaks on the job, letting moms take paid sick time when a child is under the weather and can’t go to school, or providing paid leave and flexibility for women who need to care for loved ones who are seriously ill or injured.
We’ve seen great progress on the policy front in recent years: the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and PUMP Act, which took effect in 2023, provide critical protections for pregnant, postpartum and lactating workers across the country, and have helped countless women protect their income and stay attached to their jobs. Recent attacks on the PWFA in the courts, as well as the gutting of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by the Trump Administration, reflect a concerning trend of assaults on women’s rights and autonomy – and we’re committed to defending these hard-won protections, as we highlighted in a recent project with Ms. Magazine: “The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Is Essential to Democracy.”
Additionally, we’ve seen great progress at the state level for paid sick time and paid family and medical leave, extending these critical rights to millions – but without comprehensive federal laws, too many women are forced to take pay cuts or lose their jobs entirely when they welcome a new child or need to care for themselves or a loved one.
While we have our work cut out for us, Women’s History Month is an apt reminder that women have always fought for justice, equality, and dignity, even in the face of systems of power that seek to stifle their rights. In spite of recent attempts from federal agencies to scrub women’s history and other observances from their platforms, we know how far we have come, and we aren’t going back.
