THE GENDER GAP
THE FIGHT FOR EQUALITY WAGES ON
the gap
(If you're a minority, it can be worse ² ³)
IN THE WORKFORCE TODAY...
In the United States alone, women owned businesses generate more than $1.2 trillion in annual revenues.⁴
In the developing world, 40 percent to 50 percent of businesses are women owned.⁴
Over the past decade, in the United States women entrepreneurs have created businesses at twice the rate of men.⁴
25% fewer men graduate college than women...⁵
...Yet men are paid more than women in 99% of professions⁶
Now more than ever, equal pay for equal work is necessary
For the 34 percent of working mothers who are their families’ sole breadwinner—either because they are single parents or their spouses are not in the labor force—the gender pay gap can contribute to poor living conditions, poor nutrition, and fewer opportunities for their children.⁸
it is projected that the United States' GDP would increase by 9% if the wage gap were closed.⁹
EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK. It's only fair.
Sources
² Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, "Table 37: Median Weekly Earnings of Full-time Wage and Salary Workers by Selected Characteristics, 2011" (2012).
³ Current Population Survey, reported in U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (January 24, 2012). Usual Weekly Earnings Summary Economic News Release, USDL-12-0092. www.bls.gov/news.release/wkyeng.t07.htm.
⁴ Tchen, Tina. Unleashing Women’s Economic Potential. 26 May 2011. http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/05/26/unleashing-women-s-economic-potential.
⁵ U.S. National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, annual. 2009.
⁶ Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Women’s Earnings and Employment by Industry, 2009," TED: The Editor’s Desk (February 16, 2011).
⁷ U.S. Department of Labor. “FACT SHEET: Closing the Gender Wage Gap.” U.S. Department of Labor. n.d.
⁸ Current Population Survey, reported in U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (December 2011).Women in the Labor Force: A Databook (2011 Edition). www.bls.gov/cps/wlf-databook2011.htm.
⁹ The Daily Beast. Tracking the Wage Gap. 19 Apr 2010. Tracking the Wage Gap. http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/04/19/tracking-the-wage-gap.html.