Forbes: Black Women Share Approaches To Tackling The Wage Gap

August 18. 2020

ERA attorney and Director of our Equal Pay Today Initiative Shannon Williams was featured in a Q&A article today for Forbes: Black Women Share Approaches To Tackling The Wage Gap

“Black women are more likely than other women to be the breadwinners of their families. Around 80% of Black mothers are either the sole, co- or primary breadwinners of their households,” says Williams. “That 62 cent wage gap adds up to about $1 million dollars of losses over the course of a 40 year career. That means we’re actually robbing the average Black woman of a total of around $1 million dollars over the course of her career.”

One step in the right direction? “Increase pay transparency by making it illegal for employers to retaliate against workers for discussing their pay with their colleagues,” says Williams. “Second, make it illegal for employers to ask a job applicant about their salary history. Third, require employers to prove that pay disparities exist for legitimate job-related reasons and remove obstacles for workers who want to join forces in discrimination and class action lawsuits.”

Read the article.