Native Women's Equal Pay Day 2021: Awareness Is only the First Step

National Native Women’s Equal Pay Day is on September 8, marking the day Native women in the US must work to in 2021 to make what white men made at the end of 2020.

This means that it takes Native women 21 months to earn what white men earned in one year.

Additional facts about the pay inequities Native women in the US face include:

Native women in the US earn 60¢ on the dollar compared to white men ¹

If we closed the wage gap, Native women would be able to afford 32 more months of childcare EACH YEAR ²

The pay gap actually WIDENS for Native women with advanced degrees ³

Chickasaw, Chippewa, Choctaw, Iroquois, Lumbee, Pueblo, and Sioux women are typically paid less than 60 percent of what white men make ⁴

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According to our 2019 Wage Gap Measurement, Native women in Greater Boston earn 62 cents on the dollar compared to white men. Wage gaps need to be viewed through an intersectional lens because they are about more than differences in pay.

Biases and lack of access to promotions, bonuses, and flexibility can perpetuate inequities across all levels of an organization. Awareness is only the first step.

In partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement, we support Boston area businesses in going further, to address and change inequities that women face in their organizations.

Let this year’s Native Women’s Equal Pay Day be a reminder and call to action that we all have work to do in the days and year ahead to work towards narrowing the wage gap for Native women together.

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