Patrons of a downtown coffee shop Tues. were served a message about equal pay, along with their dose of caffeine.
The organization MomsRising partnered with Trade & Lore coffee to distribute coffee sleeves with information about the gap in gender pay. The effort coincides with Equal Pay Day, which symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.
The situation is even more dire for minority women.
“If you happen to be a woman of color or a black woman in particular, it’ll take you all the way to August to get that rate. I think LatinX women come up maybe October, and Native American women, November,” Just Economics Living Wage Coordinator Carmen Ramos-Kennedy said. “It is pretty disparate. It’s almost a full year for women of color.”
Recent studies from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research show the pay gap may be even larger than the often-cited 80 cents for every dollar a man earns. The latest figures show it could be as little as 49 cents on the dollar.
Talking about money can be considered taboo. But local nonprofits are calling for more conversation about pay, particularly as it pertains to gender and race.
“Today is a day where we say it’s important to talk about our wages, it’s important to talk about equity in the workplace, it’s important to tell our employers that we care about equity in the workplace,” Just Economics executive director Vicki Meath said.
She says increasing minimum wage is an opportunity to narrow disparities because women and minorities are disproportionately represented in the low-wage workforce. Minimum wage in North Carolina is currently $7.25. That's significantly lower than what's considered the $13.65 living wage in Buncombe County, according to Just Economics.
In addition to a higher minimum wage, MomsRising is also campaigning for paid family leave.
