MANCHESTER, NH – March 15 is Equal Pay Day across the country – recognizing the extra two days of the week a woman has to work to equal men’s one-week average wage.
Equal Pay Day was created by the National Committee on Pay Equity in 1996, when women made 68 cents for every dollar men made, and aims to raise awareness about the gender pay gap. In those 26 years, the gap has closed by 15 cents, with women on average in the U.S. making 83 cents for every dollar men make.
That’s a national average. In New Hampshire, according to the latest U.S. Census figures, women make 79 cents of the male dollar, ranking the Granite State 40th among U.S. states and Washington, D.C. New Hampshire’s gender wage gap hasn’t narrowed in recent years, despite a state law that requires companies to pay women of equal qualification the same as men.
“There are many factors contributing to the persistent pay gap that women face,” Tanna Clews, CEO of the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation said. “Historic discrimination and bias continues to be a factor, as do inequitable policies. Women are still expected to shoulder much of the family responsibilities, which has contributed not only to the overall gender pay gap, but also to a much higher rate of women being pushed out of the workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The gap widens by industry and becomes a gaping cliff for Black, Native American and Latina women.
The COVID-19 Effect
The most recent U.S. Census figures show women make 83 cents on the male dollar, an increase of 1 cent over the previous year. The numbers are from the recent Census, so, some say the 83 cents, or even the more common use of 82 cents, doesn’t reflect the reality of the pandemic.
Clews pointed out the pandemic caused millions of women to leave the workforce.
“It remains to be seen how many will be able to rejoin the workforce and how soon,” she said. “Some have estimated this may set women back a generation or more in terms of earning potential and leadership opportunities in the workforce.”
In New Hampshire, where women make up two-thirds of the essential workforce, they were also disproportionally represented in jobs that have higher exposure risk to COVID-19 and other communicable diseases, a 2020 study by the foundation found.
“As we continue to build back from the pandemic, our policies must change to address these gender inequities, including equitable paid leave, flexible workplaces, and equal pay for equal work,” Clews said.
The wage gap will continue until there’s more transparency from employers on wages, she said.
“It continues to be a challenge to access reliable and complete data by gender in New Hampshire,” Clews said. “To address a challenge, we must first understand it and be able to measure it. Transparency in wage data is key.”
She said that business owners and leaders can commit to equal pay by publishing data that shows progress. She said workplace policies that are flexible and “address the outsized family responsibilities that women often shoulder” are also key.
The ‘myth’ myth
The Institute of Women’s Policy Research notes that there’s a school of thought that comparing wages by gender is misleading. The institute said, however, it accurately reflects all of the issues that go into the equal pay gap.
“It is an accurate measure of the inequality in earnings between women and men who work full-time, year-round in the labor market and reflects a number of different factors: discrimination in pay, recruitment, job assignment, and promotion; lower earnings in occupations mainly done by women; and women’s disproportionate share of time spent on family care, including that they — rather than fathers — still tend to be the ones to take more time off work when families have children,” the institute says in a fact sheet about the issue.
“Just because the explanation of the gender wage gap is multi-faceted does not make it a lie,” it says. “When a phenomenon, such as the wage gap, can be explained by various factors, it does not mean the phenomenon doesn’t exist. In fact, those explanations are the exact factors to look at when identifying interventions to solve the problem.”
Clews agreed.
“For years, many argued that any pay disparity was due to women choosing to take time off to have children,” she said. “However, at this point many studies have proven that even adjusted for time off for child-related reasons, men and women are not being paid the same for the same work.”
She pointed out the inequity across industries, with fields that are traditionally more male-dominated having a higher average wage than female-dominated fields do. Though, she added, the trends have shifted as the gender balance shifts.
Clews said New Hampshire residents who want to close the gender wage gap in the state should contact their representatives. “Encourage them to support policies that support working women: accessible and affordable child care, a livable minimum wage, paid leave, affordable housing, access to health care and a full range of reproductive and sexual health care choices all impact a women’s ability to determine her own economic future,” she said.
The gender wage gap by the numbers
- New Hampshire women earn a median salary of $49.395; men earn $60,566 (median means that half make more, and half less).
- New Hampshire women make 79 cents on the male dollar the state is ranked 40th for biggest wage gap.
- Female health care practitioners and technical workers (doctors, dentists, nurses, veterinarians, lab technicians, MRI specialists etc.) make 71.4 cents for every dollar men make.
- Female health care support staff (personal health aides, massage therapists, medical equipment preparers, etc.) make 79.1 cents for every dollar men make.
- Registered nurses, the largest occupation for women in the state, (5.2 percent of women in the workforce), have a median salary of $71,117 compared to $93,505 for male RNs.
- The largest occupation for men is “manager,” (5 percent of men in the workforce) with the median salary $91,854; median salary for women is $75,261.
- First-line supervisors of retail workers is the second-most common occupation for NH women in the workforce with a median salary of $37,739; it’s the third most common occupation for men, with a median salary of $62,617.
Some national numbers:
- Black women earn 62 cents for every dollar white men earn; Native American women 60 cents; Latina women earn 54 cents. Women of all racial/ethnic groups earn less than men in the same racial/ethnic group.
- In 2021, 48 percent of women in the workforce ages 25 and older had at least a bachelor’s degree compared with 40 percent of men, but women 25 and older also earned 80 cents for every dollar men earned.
- One of the biggest pay gaps is securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents, where women earned 56 cents for every dollar men earned.
- Another big pay gap is legal occupations, where women earned 60 cents for every dollar men earn.
- In 1972, 50 years ago, full-time female workers earned 56.6 cents for every dollar men made.
Sources for numbers: U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Pew Research Survey.
The latest U.S. Census figures show the difference in median income in New Hampshire between women and men. (U.S. Census image)