Equal Pay Day (March 25 this year) is observed to raise awareness of the gender pay gap. In the US, this date symbolizes how far into the year the average median woman must work in order to earn what the average median man earned the entire previous year. Demographic Equal Pay Days throughout the year raise awareness about harmful wage gaps faced by women of color as compared to their white male counterparts.
According to 2022 Census data, the wage gap for women compared to men is 84 cents on the dollar for full-time, year-round workers. When you look at all earners, including full-time, year-round earners and part-time and part-year workers, the wage gap widens to 78 cents. These wage gaps are unacceptable. Women continue to be underpaid and undervalued.
Pay transparency policy reforms – like the posting of job ranges and banning the use of prior salary history in setting wages – are important tools in the effort to close they wage gap. They require employers to set and publicize wages tied to job duties and experience and increase the information available to employees about how positions are compensated. They decrease subjectivity in setting wages; such subjectivity can allow bias to seep into the process.
Equal Pay Day is more than just a date—it is a call to action. Until the gap is closed, women will continue working longer for the same pay. The fight for wage equality affects everyone, and together, we can make fair pay a reality.
2025 Equal Pay Day Calendar
- All Women’s Equal Pay Day – March 25
- Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Women’s Equal Pay Day – April 7
- Moms’ Equal Pay Day – May 6
- LGBTQIA+ Equal Pay Day – June 17
- Black Women’s Equal Pay Day – July 10
- Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) Women’s Equal Pay Day – August 28
- Latina Equal Pay Day – October 8
- Disabled Women’s Equal Pay Day – October 23
- Native Women’s Equal Pay Day – November 18