Pay inequities

Pay inequities aren't due just to "occupational segregation" where Black women lack access to education and training needed to obtain higher paying jobs and instead are shunted off into lower-skilled, lower-paying jobs. Because even in lower-paying (and, point in fact, high-COVID-risk) service jobs, Black women make less than their white male colleagues, according to the Economic Policy Institute:

Black female wait staff make on average $9.39 an hour compared to white male wait staff, who make on average $10.51 an hour.
Black female cashiers make $10.82 an hour compared to white male cashiers, who make $12.91 an hour.

And when Black women are in higher paying jobs, they still make less than their white male coworkers, according to the EPI. Take the medical profession:

Black female physicians and surgeons make on average $46.59 an hour compared to white male physicians and surgeons, who make on average $63.41 an hour.
Black female registered nurses make $28.74 an hour compared to white male registered nurses, who make $34.87 an hour.

There are many ways people advocate coming at this issue, including but not limited to ensuring more people in positions of organizational decisionmaking are Black women. But two ideas are of particular interest to the employee benefits industry, detailed in a report from the National Women's Law Center and in a report from the American Association of University Women:

Offer access to affordable, high quality child care.
Offer student loan repayment assistance.

Access to affordable, high quality child care

Access to affordable, high quality child care would benefit all groups of Black women, the National Women's Law Center states, "but the numbers are most dramatic for Black women without a high school degree, who could see a 25 percent reduction in the earnings gap between themselves and white men."

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Black Women's Equal Pay Day is here -- what does that mean?

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