Closing the Chapter on Unequal Pay: On Dismantling the Pay Barrier for Latinas

Miranda De Olden ’26 in Opinions | January 13, 2023

In 2016, Olympic Soccer Gold Medalist and FIFA Women’s World Cup Champion Carli Lloyd said, “When I joined four teammates in filing a wage-discrimination complaint against U.S. Soccer late last month, it had nothing to do with how much I love to play for my country. It had everything to do with what’s right and what’s fair with upholding a fundamental American concept: Equal pay for equal play.”

Indeed, equal pay is central to gender equality. And most Americans agree. A 2020 Pew Research Survey shows that an overwhelming majority of Americans agree that women should have equal rights with men. Almost half of those who said it’s important for women to have equal rights with men volunteered equal pay as a specific example of what a society with gender equality would look like.

But current gender pay disparities show that we are very far from being an equitable society: our economy is not working for all women equally. On average, women make only 82 cents for every dollar men make. The wage gap widens even more for working women of color, who are paid systematically less: on average, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women make only 80 cents; Black women make only 64 cents; and, at the bottom of the pay scale, Latinas make 54 cents for every dollar that White non-Hispanic men make.

Yet while we were stressing over Turkey Term coursework, studying for tests, and definitely not getting enough sleep, Latina Equal Pay Day took place on December 8. This day marked how far into the year average Latinas must work to catch up to the pay average that non-Hispanic White men received in 2021.

Even within the American Latina community itself, the wage gap varies widely. According to the National Women’s Law Center, Argentinian and Spanish women make 82 cents for every dollar paid to White, non-Hispanic men. In sharp contrast, Salvadoran women make 49 cents, Guatemalan women make 47 cents, and Honduran women make 44 cents.

More concerningly, Latinas are disproportionately overrepresented in jobs within the service, care, and domestic work sectors, which, in turn, are historically undervalued and underpaid. Latinas are also underrepresented in corporate leadership roles. According to McKinsey’s 2022 Women in the Workplace Report, Latinas only make 2 percent of corporate vice presidents and 4 percent of managers. To make things worse, the Covid-19 pandemic worsened economic inequality for Latinas. During the pandemic, the unemployment rate for Latinas ages 20 and older reached 20 percent.

Such wage inequities exacerbate sexist and racial/ethnic wealth differences for women of color that negatively affect families for years to come. We must remember that these inequities are far more than a statistic—Latinas have less money to pay the bills and support their families, buy homes, start a business, save for retirement, and invest in their future.

Latinas are likely to experience bias related to race, ethnicity, sex, and immigration status, all of which contribute to widening the pay gap. Removing the barriers to the equal participation of Latinas would therefore require longer-term economic, social, and cultural changes as well as immigration reform. In the shorter term, however, because Latinas are significantly overrepresented in low-paying jobs, raising the federal minimum wage would be a first step in providing economic security and narrowing the pay gap for Latinas.

In theory, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 bans pay discrimination based on sex, banning employers from paying women lower wages than men for equal work on jobs requiring the same level of skill and responsibility. Since it was passed, 42 states have added equal pay laws to their own books. Yet over the years, ambiguities in federal law and court rulings have weakened the Equal Pay Act of 1963. The Raise the Wage Act of 2021, introduced both in the House (H.R. 603) and Senate (S.53), would update the Equal Pay Act of 1963.

However, the Raise the Wage Act of 2021 would gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025. Currently, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour and has not changed nationally since 2009; furthermore, the minimum wage varies across states. Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee have not adopted a state minimum wage, while Georgia and Wyoming have a minimum wage below the federal minimum wage.

Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour would be good public policy because it would help narrow the gender and racial/ethnic pay gaps and reduce the number of people living in poverty. Of the workers who would see a raise, 59 percent are women, 28 percent are women with children, and 23 percent are Black women or Latinas. A higher minimum wage would also boost the income of low-wage workers with jobs, which would lift families’ income above the poverty line and reduce the number of people living in poverty.

Because the Raise the Wage Act of 2021 has been introduced in both the House and Senate, it is most important that members of Congress co-sponsor the bill. Letting your local Senators and Representatives know that you support this bill can increase the odds of having it passed.

So, if you get some free time between homework and tests, please voice your opinion in support of women, including Latinas, by writing or calling your member of Congress and urging them to co-sponsor the bill. Encourage those around you to do some research on wage disparities and move into action. You, too, can make a difference!

Related Articles

Recent Articles

Menu

Closing the Chapter on Unequal Pay: On Dismantling the Pay Barrier for Latinas