BLACK WOMEN’S EQUAL PAY DAY TOOLKIT
August 3rd, 2021
On Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, help us raise awareness about the wage gap for Black women and its impact on Black women and their families.
Contacts:
- Shannon Williams, swilliams@equalrights.org, Program Director Equal Pay Today!
- Teo Saragi, tsaragi@equalrights.org, Policy Communications Coordinator, ERA
Hashtags: #BlackWomensEqualPay #BlackWomenCantWait
This toolkit includes planned activities, sample social, products, graphics
ACTIVITIES:
WEEK OF AUGUST 3rd: Use #BlackWomensEqualPay to promote August 3rd activities. Sample social is below.
SAMPLE PROMOTIONAL TWEETS
TWITTER STORM
RT & Spread the Word: We’re demanding #equalpay for equal work on #BlackWomensEqualPay Day because #BlackWomenCantWait. Join the Twitterstorm on Tuesday, August 3rd, 11-12pm PT/2-3 pm ET!
August 3rd marks the date that Black women have to work into the new year to FINALLY catch up to what white, non-Hispanic men earned last year. Join our Twitterstorm at 11am PT/2pm ET and demand equal pay on #BlackWomensEqualPay Day.
LEADING UP TO & DAY OF AUGUST 3rd:
11AM-12PM PST/2PM-3PM EST TWITTER STORM: Join the Tweetstorm at 11:00 a.m. PST / 2:00 p.m. EST. Please use your own social posts or sample social and graphics below.
July 29th event with IWPR & Equal Pay Today!
We're excited to be hosting a special #BlackWomensEqualPay Day webinar with @IWPResearch on July 29, 12pm PT/3pm ET! Register at bit.ly/BWEPD2021! #BlackWomenCantWait
August 3rd event with Women Employed: Ensuring an Equitable Recovery for Black Women
About: August 3rd marks Black Women's Equal Pay Day, in recognition of the fact that Black women make just 63 cents for every dollar white men are paid. On that day, Women Employed's CEO Cherita Ellens will engage with White House Correspondent, Political Analyst, and Author April Ryan for an important and timely conversation about what it will take to dismantle systemic barriers, grow the economic power of Black Women during the recovery and beyond, and close the wealth gap at the intersection of race and gender.
Join us from 12 - 1 p.m. CT on Tuesday, August 3rd for this virtual fireside chat. RSVP here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5CoXm_t6Tx6E4HdNtZopwA
Join us for a discussion on race and the economy coming out of the pandemic and beyond. Register here for “Black Women Can’t Wait,” happening Tuesday, August 3 at 12:00 pm PT / 3:00 pm ET.
Hosted by Equal Pay Today, Equal Rights Advocates, National Urban League, and Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
SAMPLE SOCIAL FOR AUGUST 3rd
Women Employed
We cannot achieve #GenderEquity without #RacialEquity. On #BlackWomensEqualPay, we must work to dismantle barriers & systems of oppression holding women of color back: occupational segregation, low pay, health inequities, racial gaps in education, & more. https://bit.ly/3ftiFPy
Nearly 40% of Black workers can't access #PaidSickDays. When they or their families get sick, they lose wages—or even their job—for staying home. It’s a major factor in the #WageGap & in the time of #COVID19, it’s a crisis. https://www.essence.com/feature/paid-sick-leave-coronavirus/ #BlackWomensEqualPay
Black women are more likely to be essential workers in #COVID19 AND more likely to have lost their jobs. To ensure we don’t lose ground on #BlackWomensEqualPay, Congress MUST prioritize working families in the next COVID relief package! Take action: https://bit.ly/3a8dDH5
According to @NPWF, if the #WageGap were eliminated, a Black woman working full time year-round would have enough for roughly:
👶🏿2.5 yrs of child care
🍲156 more weeks of food
🏘22 more months of rent
#BlackWomensEqualPay is essential for the wellbeing of Black women & families
Despite providing essential public services during #COVID19, Black women are being paid less than their white male counterparts and have been disproportionately impacted by the unemployment crisis. The time is NOW to pay Black women the wages they deserve. #BlackWomensEqualPay
The numbers that demonstrate the #WageGap between white men & Black women are a direct consequence of sexism & white supremacy that date back to the United States’ horrific past of enslaving Black people. We must not ignore this history & fight for #BlackWomensEqualPay.
Over a 40-year career, Black women lose almost $1 million to the #WageGap! Those lost wages leave them less able to support themselves and their families, save and invest for the future, and spend on goods and services. #BlackWomensEqualPay.
CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS
Intersections of Maternal Health and equal pay
We cannot fully address racial disparities in maternal health without securing #BlackWomensEqualPay
Lower earnings for Black mothers limit their access to high quality health care, contributing to higher risks and poorer maternal health outcomes.
❗️Black moms earn 52 cents for every $1 earned by White non-Hispanic fathers.
❗️Black women are around 3X more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes.
We can't ignore that both of these economic & health disparities are rooted in structural racism.
Black women and the Wage Gap
Today marks #BlackWomensEqualPay Day - or the date in the new year when Black women FINALLY earn what white, non-Hispanic men made last year alone.
This means Black women have less $$ in their pockets to weather a crisis like #COVID19.
Black women deserve to be paid fairly for their work. We must value Black women’s work and that starts with passing the Paycheck Fairness Act. #BlackWomensEqualPay.
Black women are on the frontlines during #COVID19 -- both at work and at home. They are essential workers, essential breadwinners, and are essential to our economy. Black women deserve #EqualPay.
Black women earn an estimated $946,120 less than white, non-Hispanic men over the course of a 40-year career. This gap is UNACCEPTABLE and undermines the economic stability of families.
At the current rate, Black women will have to wait over A CENTURY to earn #EqualPay with white men. That’s too long to wait. We need #BlackWomensEqualPay now.
Single black women in their 40s have ONLY 24% of the wealth of their white counterparts, even when accounting for education. If politicians are serious about closing the racial wealth gap, they must address #BlackWomensEqualPay. [LINK]
Black Women as Breadwinners
Black mothers are far more likely than other mothers to be the primary or sole breadwinners for their families. #BlackWomensEqualPay is ESSENTIAL to economic stability for Black families.
Discrimination & bias are critical factors that have shaped Black women’s experiences in the workplace and eroded their wages. Now approx 1.4 million family households headed by Black women live in poverty. We need #BlackWomensEqualPay & #PaycheckFairness NOW. [LINK]
#BlackWomensEqualPay Day is a reminder that the gender #wagegap is compounded by racism. We need to ensure that Black women are paid fairly for their work.
Women - particularly Black women - are overrepresented in low-wage jobs and underrepresented in high-wage jobs. And even in the jobs where women make up the majority, they’re still underpaid relative to men. Black women deserve better. #BlackWomensEqualPay.
Black Women & the Early Childhood Workforce
Black early educators earn 84 cents for every $1 earned by their white counterparts. #BlackWomensEqualPay in an industry that's 93% women & disproportionately Black would show that the US values Black women, their work and their financial wellbeing.
One Fair Wage
It’s #BlackWomensEqualPayDay. Rampant, blatant pay discrimination and occupational segregation harms not only Black women individually, but also their children, families, and communities as a whole — with consequences that can often impact families for generations.
The subminimum wage is a legacy of slavery that emerged after Emancipation to exploit recently freed people, particularly Black women. This legacy is the reason it takes 1 year + 215 days for Black women to get equal pay in 2021. #BlackWomensEqualPayDay
The subminimum wage for tipped workers perpetuates racism w a nearly ~$8/hour differential in wages between Black women and white men tipped restaurant workers in #NewYork #BlackWomensEqualPayDay Link to Report: https://onefairwage.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/OFW_LegacyOfSlavery_USA-1.pdf
In Illinois, Black women in restaurants earn $3.55/hour less than white men. This disparity is being felt even more profoundly as these workers are being asked to return to work for a subminimum wage and far less in tips — and they’re saying “no more”. https://onefairwage.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/OFW_LegacyOfSlavery_IL.pdf
Wage justice is racial justice. Wage justice is gender justice. Want to advocate for Black women on #BlackWomensEqualPayDay? Fight for wage justice by eliminating the subminimum wage for tipped workers and raising the federal minimum wage to $15/hr + tips. #OneFairWage
ANITAB.ORG
I’m committed to ending gender and race-based pay gaps and I will keep fighting for policies that end pay discrimination in the workplace. #BlackWomensEqualPay #BlackWomenInTech
Support the rise of funding to Black women-led businesses & initiatives to address systemic barriers to advancement. #BlackWomensEqualPay #BlackWomenFounders
LinkedIn/Facebook Posts
I’m committed to ending gender and race-based pay gaps and I will keep fighting for policies that end pay discrimination in the workplace. I support the Paycheck Fairness Act. #BlackWomensEqualPay #BlackWomenInTech
According to Project Diane, Black women have raised only .0006% of all venture funding since 2009. We need to bring awareness to this issue and support the rise of funding to Black women-led businesses and initiatives to address systemic barriers to advancement and parity. #BlackWomensEqualPay #BlackWomenInTech
MomsRising
We needed #BlackWomensEqualPay YESTERDAY! More than 80% of Black mothers are key breadwinners for their families, yet Black families with kids have a single penny in wealth for every dollar that white families with kids have. [Source - NPWF & Source - The Atlantic]
A #BlackWomensEqualPay Day PSA: #COVID19 has made it clearer than ever that women of color keep our economy and workforce afloat. It’s time for Congress to recognize the value & dignity in all work by raising the minimum wage & passing #paidleaveforall (a boost for #equalpay)!
Black moms are most likely to be breadwinners for their families & at the same time, incredibly vulnerable to pay discrimination and the economic & health impacts of the #COVID19 crisis. Our recovery plans must center their needs and vision for a new normal! #BlackWomensEqualPay
Even during a pandemic, Black women performing essential work aren’t paid equally. Black women working as janitors and building cleaners are only being paid about 66% of what their white male counterparts are being paid. #BlackWomensEqualPay Day [Source - NWLC]
Discrimination runs through our criminal justice system. Incarceration disproportionately drives many Black women further into poverty long after a sentence. We can’t achieve #BlackWomensEqualPay without reducing barriers to employment for formerly incarcerated women. [Source]
Our criminal justice system is unjust. Racist profiling of Black women makes their incarceration rate 2x that of white women & the majority hold jobs while in prison. But in 8 states, incarcerated people are legally paid NOTHING for their labor. #BlackWomensEqualPay [Source]
Black women with disabilities, such as Harriet Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Mary Davidson have been at the forefront of civil rights and social justice. On #BlackWomensEqualPay Day it’s important to lift up #BlackDisabilityHistory too. https://moms.ly/2A0FgUg
#LGBTQ women are central to the fight for #BlackWomensEqualPay! 25% of Black women in a same-sex relationships live in poverty and are three times more likely to be poor than white women in same-sex parnterships. (source & source)
Higher Heights
Hey Black Women! If you got paid #MyWholeDollar what would do with it? #BlackWomensEqualPay #BlackWomenLead
Today is #BlackWomensEqualPay Day and we are sounding the alarm that Black women have to work 8 months into the year to earn the same pay as what White men earned ALL of last year. Pay me #MyWholeDollar #BlackWomenLead
Family Values @ Work
#EqualPay for black women changes lives, family outcomes, and strengthens whole communities.
#BlackWomensEqualPay #blacklivesmatter
Pay disparity keeps black families in poverty - plain and simple. #blacklivesmatter #EqualPay
An eight month wage gap means that you've been cheated for eight months. Wage disparities are robbery and wage theft. #BlackWomensEqualPay Day
It’s #BlackWomensEqualPay Day! It’s time to make equal pay for equal work a reality.
The largest gap between white men’s earnings & Black women’s earnings is in Louisiana. That’s why we fight for #BlackWomensEqualPay, #paidsickdays http://bit.ly/IWPR-BW-report
The union difference for #women? Fair pay, better benefits #EqualPayDay #BlackWomensEqualPay Day
National Partnership for Women and Families
Nobody should have to work more than 19 months to make one year's pay. But that’s the legacy racism has left on Black women’s economic security. #EqualPay for #EqualPay for Black women would change lives and strengthen families. https://www.nationalpartnership.org/our-work/resources/economic-justice/fair-pay/african-american-women-wage-gap.pdf
If the wage gap were eliminated, a Black woman working full time, year-round would have additional money for more than 22 months of rent. With an eviction crisis looming, #BlackWomensEqualPay is more essential than ever. https://www.nationalpartnership.org/our-work/resources/economic-justice/fair-pay/african-american-women-wage-gap.pdf
We've said it before and we'll say it again. There is no racial justice without economic justice. A good first step toward justice would be paying Black women #MyWholeDollar. https://www.nationalpartnership.org/our-work/resources/economic-justice/fair-pay/african-american-women-wage-gap.pdf
When Black women are paid less than their white counterparts, they have less money to put away in savings, making it even harder to weather unexpected financial storms (like a global pandemic and historic national job loss). #BlackWomensEqualPay https://www.nationalpartnership.org/our-work/resources/economic-justice/fair-pay/african-american-women-wage-gap.pdf
Time’s Up
85% of Black women say pay equity is as important as ever. We need action now because #BlackWomenCantWait until 2130 to close the pay gap. #BlackWomensEqualPay https://times.upnow.us/30pODrF
Racism and sexism is holding Black women back. @TIMESUPNOW survey finds that 1 in 5 Black women have turned down a higher paying job because the new workplace would be too racist or too sexist. #BlackWomensEqualPay https://times.upnow.us/30pODrF
*More than HALF* of Black
women in a survey by @TIMESUPNOW have faced gender or race discrimination or other related obstacles to higher pay. #BlackWomenCantWait to address the barriers that cause the pay gap. #BlackWomensEqualPay https://times.upnow.us/30pODrF
4 out of 10 Black women say someone at work has said or implied they don’t work as hard because of their gender, race, or caregiving responsibilities. Sexism and racism in the workplace has got to end. #TIMESUP #BlackWomensEqualPay https://times.upnow.us/30pODrF
The impact of the pay gap on Black women is serious. Data from @TIMESUPNOW: over 50% of Black women have less than $200 in savings and don’t have enough money to pay for their basic needs amidst this crisis. #BlackWomensEqualPay https://times.upnow.us/30pODrF
National Women’s Law Center
Did you know that today is #BlackWomensEqualPay Day? Black women lose almost 𝟏 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 dollars to the #WageGap over a lifetime of work. It’s time to pay up and close the wage gap!
❗❗❗In the nation’s capital, a Black woman makes 51 cents for every dollar a White man makes, and in a 40-year career Black women lose almost 2 million dollars because of the #WageGap. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/07/29/black-women-pay-gap-dc/
#BlackWomensEqualPay Day is reminder that In this country Black women deserve wage justice! The fact that the #WageGap between Black women and white, non-Hispanic men hasn't narrowed in a quarter of a century makes that clear. https://on.nwlc.org/2D5rnpD
Equal Rights Advocates
Concerned about how your state measures up when it comes to Equal Pay? Track what's happening by searching for #equalpay laws through our Policy Hub and support in the fight for #BlackWomensEqualPay.
https://policyhub.equalrights.org/policy-library-map/
A Better Balance
#PregnancyDiscrimination is a key contributor to the gender and racial wage gaps. Passing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is a critical step towards ensuring #BlackWomensEqualPay. http://bit.ly/PassPWFA
Black moms & caregivers are disproportionately affected by a lack of critical protections like paid leave, forcing them to forgo critical income in order to care for themselves and their loved ones. There is no #BlackWomensEqualPay without #PaidLeaveForAll. https://www.abetterbalance.org/take-action-tell-congress-we-need-bold-inclusive-paid-leave-for-all/
Institute for Women's Policy Research
- If the earnings ratio for Black women and White men continues at the same pace as it has since the-mid 1980s, it will take Black women more than another hundred years—until 2133—to reach pay equity with White men. Waiting another century is not an option. #BlackWomenCantWait
- According to a new fact sheet from @IWPResearch, before the pandemic, Black women were paid just 63% of White men’s annual earnings—$24,110 less—even when they were able to obtain full-time year-round work. #BlackWomensEqualPay
Read more: https://iwpr.org/iwpr-publications/fact-sheet/shortchanged-and-underpaid-black-women-and-the-pay-gap/!
- Black women were overrepresented in many low-paying jobs that were recognized as “essential” during the pandemic, but dismissed as “low-skilled” before. We need comprehensive policies that ensure Black women & their jobs are properly valued so we can achieve #BlackWomensEqualPay.
- #BlackWomensEqualPay starts before they are hired—women with names suggesting that they are Black or African American are less likely to receive call backs and job interviews.
PRODUCTS
Research Products
"Shortchanged and Underpaid: Black Women and the Pay Gap", a fact sheet by the Institute for Women's Policy Research
Blogs
GRAPHICS (all graphics downloadable here)
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