The takeaway on this Equal Pay Day is a sobering one: The wage gap between men and women has only closed by a few pennies over the last few decades.

Women make 83 cents for every dollar men make, according to an analysis of  Census data by the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Two decades ago, women earned 80 cents on the dollar,

Equal Pay Day symbolizes how far into the year women must work to catch up to what men made the previous year. When it was first observed, women made 74 cents on the dollar compared to men.

Herman Sahni, an associate professor of economics and finance at the Carmel-Boyer School of Business at Baldwin Wallace University, has examined the wage gap. Sahni, who is a woman, said societal norms that disproportionately place caring for the family and the household on women contribute to the gender wage gap.

“When it comes to childcare responsibilities or when it comes to elderly caregiving, it is women who bear the biggest burden,“ she said. “We find that it’s women who are more likely to give up a high-paying job, take a part-time position or give up a position required for advancement that might require travel.”

For example, nearly half of women — compared to only about one-third of men —  feel “a great deal of pressure” to focus on home and family responsibilities, according to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey. More than two-thirds of working mothers with children under 18 felt this way, compared with 45% of men. 

Heather Smith, work and wages researcher at Policy Matters Ohio, a non-profit policy research institute, said that specific legislation will help in closing the wage gap. This includes a pending ordinance before Cleveland City Council that would ban employers from asking job seekers their salary in current and previous jobs.

“One way employers are tamping down wages is by asking for salaries because they can lowball workers,” she said.

Smith said employers often make offers based on the applicant’s current or last salary and not on what the industry or company standards are for the position. While the legislation is intended to help all workers, its supporters say women would potentially benefit more because of the wage gap.

AAUW’s analysis is based on 2023 Census data, the latest available. In Ohio, AAUW found that women earned 82.8 cents on the dollar compared to men. This ranked us 22nd among all states and Washington, D.C.

Pew did an analysis using 2024 data from the monthly federal Community Population Survey of about 60,000 U.S. households. It showed women made 85 cents on the dollar to men, up from 81% in 2003. 

Employers treating women differently contributes to gender wage gap

Many women believe employers treat them differently than their male counterparts and that this contributes greatly to the gender wage gap. The Pew survey found that half of women believed this was a major reason they lagged in pay. Sahni and Smith believe such concerns have merit.

“There is a common misconception that the pay gap is due to differences in the type of work that men and women are doing,” Smith said. “However, we see that there are large discrepancies in pay between men and women within the same sector.”

Men make more in high-paying and in female-dominated occupations, Smith said. She highlighted 2023 Census data showing the typical earnings for men in management, business and financial occupations is $94,226. For women it is $71,615. 

The typical earnings for men in community and social service occupations is $53,281. For women it is $51,461.

Sahni said women and men often have similar salaries early in their careers.

“It’s later on, down the years, where the wage gap starts taking place,” she said. “Men get access to mentoring opportunities from senior leadership, who tell them how to go about navigating getting higher on the corporate ladder. Women don’t get access to that.”

Sahni said the importance employers place on networking outside of the workday to advance also works against women, who often have family obligations.

How can the gender wage gap be closed?

Smith believes changing public policy is the best way to close the gender wage gap. In addition to legislation that bans employers from asking job applicants about salary, she supports making it easier for workers to unionize and raising the minimum wage to $15. Ohio’s current minimum wage is $10.70.

Because union contracts set wages based on such things as job title and experience, the chance of women making less than their male counterparts is lessened, Smith said.

She said  a constitutional amendment to raise Ohio’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, initially planned for 2024 that may be on a future ballot, would especially help women who are low-wage earners.

“Our research found that six in 10 people who would receive a pay increase are women,” she said.

Sahni said anything that gives employees more information to negotiate a salary is helpful. Research has shown that women were less likely than men to have salary information about positions. Such information is often obtained through mentoring and other informal arrangements.

“If all you’re given is that $60,000 is the starting wage, how will you know how much more beyond $60,000 you can push?” she said.

Other Equal Pay Days this year

There are Equal Pay Days for other groups as well. These wage gaps are often calculated by comparing the earnings of women of color to white men.

These are some dates on this year’s Equal Pay Day Calendar:

• April 7: Asian American Equal Pay Day (They made 94 cents on the dollar compared to white, non-Hispanic men) 

• June 17: LGBTQIA+ Equal Pay Awareness Day (No census data available for determining this gender wage gap.)
• July 10: Black Women’s Equal Pay Day (They made 66 cents on the dollar.)

• August 28:  Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Women’s Equal Pay Day (They made 65 cents on the dollar.)
• October 8: Latina Equal Pay Day (They made 58 cents on the dollar.)
• October 23: Disabled Women’s Equal Pay Day (They made 72 cents for every dollar paid to disabled men.)
• November 18: Native Women’s Equal Pay Day (They make 58 cents on the dollar.)