"Equal pay isn't just about our earnings...the inability to become financially independent has ripple effects across all aspects of our lives. Wage gaps make it harder for us to make decisions about if, when, and how to parent, or escape situations of family or domestic violence..."
— National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum1
April 2nd was Equal Pay Day, because it takes a white woman three additional months into the new year to make the same as your average white man
2. But
it's not Equal Pay Day for all women — this date doesn't account for the widened gap experienced by women of color, trans women, queer women, and gender non-conforming folks.
Black women made 63 cents, Latina women made 54 cents and Native American women made 59 cents to the white man's dollar. While white women made 80 cents and Asian women made 85 cents to a white man's dollar, respectively. You've probably heard these stats before, but who gets overlooked?
As a Sri Lankan-American, I notice that nearly 50 ethnicities are all lumped together as a monolith — perpetuating the idea that Asians are a
"model minority": The myth that all Asian Americans are successful and educated compared to other marginalized communities of color may sound like a compliment, but it actually does a lot of harm. For one, it erases our diverse experiences and results in underfunding or cuts to important federal programs such as Medicaid, which 10% of non-elderly Asian American women rely on for their health care.
Looking closely at the data, several Asian diaspora groups make much lower wages, such as Samoan and Burmese women, who respectively earn 62 and 50 cents to every dollar a white man earns
1. These disparities that exist across ethnicities can also be made worse by homophobia and transphobia.
Although we are far from pay equity, some progress is being made. Last month the House passed the
Paycheck Fairness Act, thanks in part to the efforts of groups like the
National Partnership for Women and Families and the
National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum.
Amanda Silva, Mobile Specialist
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Amanda is a passionate advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in workplaces. Amanda has lived and worked in Sri Lanka and Australia, and served in Peace Corps Indonesia.
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