women of color and the gender wage gap

8/9/2019 Women of Color and the Gender Wage Gap

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1 Center for American Progress | Women of Color and the Gender Wage Gap

Women of Color and the

Gender Wage GapBy Milia Fisher April 14, 2015

TABLE 1

Gender wage gap for women of color

Race or ethnicity

Wage gap compared with

white, non-Hispanic men

Hispanic or Latino 54 percent

African American 64 percent

Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander 65 percent

American Indian and Alaska Native 59 percent

Asian American 90 percent

Source: American Association of University Women, “By the Numbers: A Look at the Gender Pay Gap,” September 18, 2014, available at http://www.

aauw.org/2014/09/18/gender-pay-gap/ .

Women o all races and ehniciies working ull ime, year round in he Unied Saes

earned an average o only 78 percen o wha men earned in 2013, he earlies year or

which daa are available.1 While his overall gender wage gap is an imporan saisi-

cal represenaion o how women ake home less money in wages han men across he

economy, i is imporan o consider he specific influencing acors: A number o differ-en hings, including race and ehniciy, inerac o affec earnings. When examining he

wage gap or women o color, or example, i becomes clear ha on average, women o

color experience a much greaer wage defici han whie women.

able 1 illusraes he breakdown o he pay gap ha women o color experienced com-

pared wih non-Hispanic whie men in 2013.2

Bu wha do hese saisics really mean? And how does he gender wage gap or women

o color ell a differen sory han he 22 percen overall wage gap beween women

and men? Researchers esimae ha a porion o he overall gender wage gap can be

atribued o acors such as occupaion, differences in hours worked, and ime spen

in he labor orce.3 Tese differences are no purely he resul o “women’s choices.”

Tey reflec significan srucural and economic realiies ha limi women’s abiliies o

compee wih men in he labor orce, resuling in lower pay.

http://www.aauw.org/2014/09/18/gender-pay-gap/http://www.aauw.org/2014/09/18/gender-pay-gap/http://www.aauw.org/2014/09/18/gender-pay-gap/http://www.aauw.org/2014/09/18/gender-pay-gap/


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For women o color, he explained acors ha conribue o he wage gap are ofen di-

eren ha hose o whie women due o he ac ha women o color requenly work in

lower-paying jobs, work ewer hours, and experience more subsanial caregiving burdens.4

Te wider wage gap or women o color also raises quesions abou he combined effecs

o gender, race, and ehniciy on discriminaion, which economiss believe is par o he

unexplained porion o he gender wage gap.

Where women of color work

Across he board, women o color are more likely han whie women o be shuned ino

he lowes-earning occupaions in he service secor and in sales and office jobs. Tis

rend is paricularly pronounced or Hispanic women. Among working women in 2014,

62 percen o Hispanics were clusered ino jus wo job groupsservice occupaions

and sales and office occupaions. Tis is compared wih 57 percen o blacks, 51 percen

o whies, and 44 percen o Asians in he same job caegories.5

In 2014, only 35 percen o black women and 26 percen o Hispanic women were

employed in higher-paying managemen, proessional, and relaed jobscompared

wih 48 percen o Asian women and 43 percen o whie women.6

While one could argue ha women o color choose o work in lower-paying service-sec-

or occupaions, i is hard o discoun he ac ha women o color ofen ener he labor

orce wih significan barriers o success.7 Arican American and Hispanic women are

significanly less likely o graduae rom high school or o ge a bachelor’s degree han

whie women.8

Tis places Arican American and Hispanic women a a disadvanagerom he momen hey ener he workorce, creaing major srucural barriers o ener-

ing op-earning proessional fields.

Differences in hours

Differences in work hourswhen and how long women workalso conribue o he

wage gap. Women o all races and ehniciies are more likely han men o ake ime

ou o he labor orce o have children or o work ewer hours so ha hey can care or

amily members.9

Economis Claudia Goldin has ound ha boh low- and high-income workers experi-

ence a wage bonus or working long hours and a wage penaly or working ewer hours.10

Fewer hours mean ewer dollars and los income or women and heir amilies. Women

o color, who are even less likely o work in high-hours occupaions han whie women,

are hereore more likely o lose ou on wages. Only 15.5 percen o Arican American

women and 16.9 percen o Hispanic women work 45 or more hours per week, while 25

percen o whie women are able o work in such high-hour jobs.11


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Working ewer hours is no ofen somehing ha women o color do willingly. Jobs in

indusries such as ood servicewhere women o color are concenraedare ofen

hourly jobs in which many workers are par ime and schedules are subjec o cancella-

ion or aleraion on shor noice.12

Women o color are also more likely o be employed as involunary par-ime workers

han heir whie counerpars. Involunary par-ime workers are available or ull-ime work bu setle or par-ime posiions because heir employers canno give hem enough

hours or because hey canno find a ull-ime job.13 In 2014, 29 percen o Arican

American women, 28 percen o Lainas, and 20 percen o Asian American women

worked par ime involunarily, compared wih only 16 percen o whie women.14

Family caregiving

Unlike mos developed naions, he Unied Saes lacks ederally mandaed paid amily

and medical leave and paid sick days.15

Tese policies allow caregivers o balance amilyresponsibiliies wih heir jobs, and lack o access means ha women, who ofen bear he

brun o amily care, have o ake unpaid ime off work o care or hemselves, sick amily

members, or new children. Te end resul is ha women lose ou on pay, promoions,

and oher benefis ha accrue hrough enure in he labor orce. 16 When amily caregiv-

ing responsibiliies are coupled wih he burden o being a major financial provider,

women ofen lose ou even more.17

oday, 40 percen o married Lainas and more han 50 percen o married Arican

American women bring in a leas hal o heir amilies’ income.18 Reliance on a woman’s

income among amilies o color has increased dramaically since 1975, when only 28.7 per-cen o Arican American women and 23.1 percen o Lainas were amily breadwinners.19

Women o color are paricularly more likely han whie women o experience he dual

responsibiliies o providing or a amily. Even as hey represen a larger share o heir

amilies’ income, women o color, paricularly Arican American women and Lainas,

are ar more likely o be single mohers or single heads o household han heir whie

counerpars.20 In 2013, more han one-fifh21.6 perceno Arican American

amilies were led by a single moher. Single mohers also led 14.5 percen o Hispanic

households compared wih only 7.4 percen o whie households and 5.9 percen o

Asian American households.21

Overall, while hal o all whie workers have access o some orm o paid amily and

medical leave, only 40.2 percen o Arican American workers and 32.6 percen o

Laino workers can say he same.22 Occupaions such as ood service and personal care,

in which women o color are highly represened, are also much less likely o have access

o paid sick days.23


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Unexplained causes of the wage gap

Despie all o hese causes, researchers have ound ha a porion o he gender wage gap

is due o oher acors.24 Tese acors could include he conscious or unconscious gen-

der discriminaion ha women encouner in heir careers. Women o color, who migh

be subjec o boh gender and racial discriminaion, could experience a double burden.

More robus workplace proecions could alleviae he social and economic acors ha

drive he wage gap or women o color. Policies such as paid amily and medical leave

and paid sick days would help ensure ha women o color are beter able o balance

work and amily; hey would also minimize he ime women are required o spend

ouside he labor orce caring or loved ones. More robus equal pay laws would help

preven racial and gender discriminaion and ensure ha women o color can ake effec-

ive legal acion o address discriminaion.

However, public policy alone will no close he gender wage gap or women o color.Te Unied Saes needs o address boh he srucural drivers behind he pay gap and

he persisen culural biases agains women and people o color i i wans o ruly affec

change or hese populaions.

Milia Fisher is a Research Associate with the Women’s Initiative at the Center for

American Progress.


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Endnotes

1 Carmen DeNavas-Walt and Bernadette D. Proctor, “Incomeand Poverty in the United States” (Washington: Bureau ofthe Census, 2014), figure 2, available at https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2014/demo/p60-249.pdf .

2 White, non-Hispanic men are used as a comparison pointbecause they are the largest demographic group i n the U.S.

economy. These statistics are calculated using annual datafor 2013, the most recent year for which data are available. They estimate that women earn 78 percent of what men dofor working full time, year round. See American Associationof University Women, “By the Numbers: A Look at the Gen-der Pay Gap,” September 18, 2014, available at http://www.aauw.org/2014/09/18/gender-pay-gap/.

3 Jane Farrell and Sarah Jane Glynn, “What Causes the GenderWage Gap?”, Center for American Progress, April 9, 2013,available at https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/labor/news/2013/04/09/59658/what-causes-the-gender-wage-gap.

4 Sophia Kerby, “How Pay Inequity Hurts Women of Color”(Washington: Center for American Progress, 2013), avail-able at https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/labor/report/2013/04/09/59731/how-pay-inequity-hurts-women-of-color.

5 Bureau of Labor Statistics, “10. Employed persons by occu-pation, race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, and sex,” availableat http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat10.htm (last accessed April2015).

6 Ibid.

7 Sarah Jane Glynn, “Explaining the Gender Wage Gap”(Washington: Center for American Progress, 2014), availableat https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/re-port/2014/05/19/90039/explaining-the-gender-wage-gap/.

8 National Center for Education Statistics, Percentage of persons age 25 and over with high school completion or higherand a bachelor’s or higher degree, by race/ethnicity and sex:Selected years, 1910 through 2012 (U.S. Department of Edu-cation, 2012), available at https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d12/tables/dt12_008.asp.

9 Kerby, “How Pay Inequity Hurts Women of Color.”

10 Claudia Goldin, “Hours, Flexibility, and the Gender Pay Gapin Pay” (Washington: Center for American Progress, 2014),available at https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/report/2014/06/23/92502/hours-flexibility-and-the-gender-gap-in-pay/.

11 Sarah Jane Glynn’s analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Time Use Survey (U.S. Department of Labor, 2012).

12 Sophia Kerby, “The State of Women in Color in the UnitedStates” (Washington: Center for American Progress, 2012),available at https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/report/2012/07/17/11923/the-state-of-women-of-color-in-the-united-states.

13 The Bureau of Labor Statistics technically defines voluntarypart-time workers as people who work part time for“noneconomic reasons” and involuntary part time workersas people who work part time for “economic reasons.” SeeH. Luke Shaefer, “Part-time workers: some key differencesbetween primary and secondary earners” (Washington:Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009), available at http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2009/10/art1full.pdf .

14 Numbers for Asian American women were not reporteddue to the small sample size of the data. Bureau of LaborStatistics, “8. Employed and unemployed full- and part-timeworkers by age, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity,”available at http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat08.htm (lastaccessed April 2015).

15 The Aspen Institute, “Time to Care: A Discussion on Improv-ing Paid Leave Policies for Workers, Businesses, and OurEconomy” (2014), available at http://www.aspenwsi.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Fact-Sheet-on-Paid-Leave-Policies-in-the-US.pdf.

16 Sarah Jane Glynn, “Explaining the Gender Wage Gap.”

17 MetLife, “The MetLife Study of Caregiving Costs to WorkingCaregivers” (2011), available at https://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/mmi/publications/studies/2011/Caregiving-Costs-to-Working-Caregivers.pdf .

18 Sarah Jane Glynn, “The New Breadwinners: 2010 Update”(Washington: Center for American Progress, 2012), availableat https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/issues/2012/04/pdf/breadwinners.pdf .

19 Ibid.

20 Bureau of the Census, Families and Living Arrangements:2013: Households (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2014),table H3, available at http://www.census.gov/hhes/families/data/cps2013H.html.

21 Ibid.

22 Sarah Jane Glynn’s analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Time Use Survey (U.S. Department of Labor, 2012).

23 Liz Ben-Ishai, “Access to Paid Leave: An Overlooked Aspectof Economic & Social Inequality ” (Washington: CLASP, 2014),

available at http://www.clasp.org/resources-and-publica-tions/publication-1/2014-04-09-Inequities-and-Paid-Leave-Brief_FINAL.pdf .

24 Christianne Corbett and Catherine Hill, “Graduating to aPay Gap: The Earnings of Women and Men One Year afterCollege Graduation” (Washington: American Association ofUniversity Women, 2012), available at http://www.aauw.org/files/2013/02/graduating-to-a-pay-gap-the-earnings-of-women-and-men-one-year-after-college-graduation.pdf .
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women of color and the gender wage gap

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