Black Women’s Equal Pay Day Highlights Persistent Wage Gaps and Urgent Need for Action 

(SACRAMENTO, CA) – Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, recognized on July 21, highlights the persistent wage gaps that continue to harm Black women’s economic security across the country and in California.  

• National data shows that Black women working full time, year-round are paid just 65 cents for every dollar paid to non-Hispanic white men and 63 cents to the dollar for “all earners” (full time year-round + part-time and part-year). 
• In California, Black women were paid only 60 cents and Black single mothers were paid only 56 cents for every dollar paid to white men.  
• Following the current trajectory, it would take nearly a century to close the wage gap in California.

These wage gaps ripple far beyond paychecks, directly impacting the growing affordability crisis facing Black women and their families. If the wage gap were eliminated, a typical Black woman working in the United States would have enough additional income to pay for approximately 30 months of food, 23 months of childcare, or a year of mortgage payments. In California, a Black single mom would be able to afford an additional eight years of groceries, an entire year of rent, or two years of childcare if she were paid equally to white men.  

“California has a real opportunity to support Black women in receiving the pay they should have earned,” said California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls Executive Director Darcy Totten. “By focusing on transparency, data collection, and enforcement while addressing discrimination across the career pipeline, we can open pathways to higher‑paid occupations and positions, expand mobility and opportunity, and strengthen long‑term economic stability for all of our communities.”

At the federal level, the push to eliminate essential workforce demographic data collection and opportunities focused on creating pathways to employment are systematically being scaled back, threatening progress for economic security for thousands of marginalized workers, including Black women.

“We can’t count on guardrails or critical data collection at a national level to protect women or keep pushing forward the important work of closing these persistent wage gaps,” said Totten. “California should be looking to create its own data repositories, transparency laws, and expanded apprenticeship and pipeline programs to ensure women in our state have an opportunity to level the playing field and receive equal pay for equal work.”

About Black Women’s Equal Pay Day
Black Women’s Equal Pay Day is a day that highlights how much longer black women must work to earn what white, non-Hispanic women earned in the previous year. It serves as a call to action to address and rectify the systemic inequalities contributing to the wage gap. Closing wage gaps is both a matter of fairness and a strategic economic imperative. When women are paid fairly, families have more spending power, small businesses grow, and communities become more resilient. Pay inequity, by contrast, suppresses tax revenue, increases reliance on public services, and limits long‑term economic competitiveness.

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For 60 years, the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls has identified and worked to eliminate inequities in state laws, practices, and conditions that affect California’s women and girls. Established as a state agency with 17 appointed commissioners in 1965, the Commission regularly assesses gender equity in health, safety, employment, education, and equal representation in the military and the media.