Today is April 24, 2007, and that means that we, as women have finally earned what the average man earned in 2006. Yep, you read that right. Each year, the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) organizes the national observance of Equal Pay Day to raise awareness about unfair pay for women and people of color in America. Equal Pay Day is observed in April to indicate how far into each year a woman must work to earn as much as a man earned in the previous year. So this is the day that women’s wage’s catch up to men’s wages.
Now I write a lot about women’s pay, and I happen to think this issue is a lot more complicated than gender discrimination and the glass ceiling. Women play their own part in earning issues as well. But discrimination does indeed still exist, and there is a lot more work to be done. So I, for one, always want to commemorate this day.