Listen, we never relish being the bearers of bad news—but when it comes to women and their salaries, it’s always best to be hyper-informed.
A Forbes article this summer, amidst the total badassery of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, enlightened us with some statistics you might not be aware of. For example, most of us have heard the disappointing fact that in 2019 (according to PayScale), women in America are still only making $0.79 for every dollar a man makes. This number is even lower for women of color who are making 26 percent less than white men. Even at the executive level, PayScale’s report showed, black female execs earn $0.63 for every dollar a white male exec earns.
But Shahar Ziv calls out a number of other factors in his story that, frankly, only served to annoy us further.
- Many studies don’t take bonuses into account but a recent ADP study showed that women make 31 percent less on that front, too.
- We’re also losing money when it comes to employer-matching on things like 401K accounts because our base and bonus salaries are smaller. That can add up over time and is detrimental to the health of our retirement accounts.
- Women are also losing out when it comes to Social Security benefits since those are calculated based on lifetime earnings. Statistically, we’re already at a disadvantage because, wage gap. But then factor in the number of women who may take time off for child-rearing or caregiving, and that lowers the number even more.
So, how does Indy fare?
The area is one of the country’s worst when it comes to the gender pay gap, according to an American Association of University Women study released in April of this year. Only five other U.S. cities, among them Chicago and Detroit, were worse.
In Central Indiana, the average woman made $11,200 less than the average man in 2017. The report nonprofit AAUW, which advocates for gender equality, showed Indiana residents how to contact their legislators to make them aware of the issue.
It will be no small feat to close this gap and high-profile cases like that of the USWNT can help drive the conversation in our own communities. Let’s strive to have more open conversations about money with each other that can arm us as we go into our own pay negotiations.
Deal?
