Women’s Equality Day honors the history of the women’s rights movement in the United States. Where do income gaps stand today?

Answer: 82 cents

Women had median weekly earnings of $1,131, or 82.0 percent of the $1,380 median for men.

Questions:

• If you ran a company, what’s the first thing you’d check to see whether people were being paid fairly?
• Would you tell a coworker how much you get paid? Why or why not?
• Is it worth risking a job offer to ask for more money? Where would you draw the line?

Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the Numbers: (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

These figures come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ quarterly report on usual weekly earnings, which covers 120.9 million full-time wage and salary workers. The gap is not the same at every age: women ages 16 to 24 earned 91.1 percent as much as men in the same age group, while the women’s-to-men’s earnings ratio was 78.5 percent for those age 55 and over.

About the Author

Yonathan Tadesse

Yonathan is a Dallas-based Curriculum Designer at NGPF with 12 years of experience as a high school math, college transition, and financial literacy teacher. An award-winning educator, he has a track record of launching innovative programs at the high school level that expand access and opportunity for students. He is a graduate of Emory University and is passionate about advancing financial education for all students. Outside of work, Yonathan loves spending time with his wife and two kids, working out, playing chess and poker, and learning new things.

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