Women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce and serve as the sole or joint earners in about half of American families with children. They also earn more college and graduate degrees than men. Despite these achievements, women continue to earn significantly less than their male counterparts. In 2014, women working full-time earned just 79 cents for every dollar paid to men – a wage gap of 21 percent. In 2017, this number had only slightly improved, with women earning 80.5 cents on the dollar, revealing a persistent 20 percent gap.
Across nearly every occupation where earnings data is available for both men and women, women earn less. In middle-skill roles – positions that require a moderate level of education or training – jobs predominantly held by women pay just 66 percent of what similar male-dominated jobs pay.
The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) tracks the gender wage gap through fact sheets published twice annually. Their research shows that if current trends continue, women will not reach pay parity until 2059 – more than four decades from now. Unfortunately, the timeline is even longer for women of color. Black women are projected to reach equal pay by 2119, while Hispanic women may have to wait until 2224.
IWPR’s Status of Women in the States project provides a detailed analysis of the wage gap based on state, race and ethnicity, and age group. Their work shows that gender pay inequality remains widespread and is influenced by multiple factors. One major factor is occupational segregation – women and men continue to be concentrated in different types of jobs, and those primarily held by women generally pay less, even when qualifications are similar. While women have entered previously male-dominated fields over the last few decades, the pace of gender integration has slowed significantly in recent years. In some industries, such as construction, there has been no progress in over 40 years.
This division in job roles remains one of the key reasons the wage gap persists. IWPR’s findings emphasize that discrimination in hiring, pay, and promotions is still a significant issue in today’s workplaces.
The economic effects of persistent pay inequality are far-reaching. A recent regression analysis of federal data by IWPR found that achieving pay equity would cut poverty among working women and their families by more than half and add $513 billion to the U.S. economy.
In addition to wage tracking and economic analysis, IWPR, in collaboration with The WAGE Project, Inc., has studied how consent decrees are used to address sex and race discrimination in the workplace. These court-approved agreements typically do not include an admission of guilt but require employers to take concrete steps to prevent future discrimination. Remedies often include monetary relief for affected individuals, as well as broader organizational changes such as harassment training, updated grievance systems, supervisor education, and revised performance or reward programs.
Since 1987, IWPR’s research on occupational segregation and wage inequality has helped shape national conversations on women’s earnings, giving policymakers, journalists, and advocates the evidence they need to push for meaningful change.
Mary Watson
