This year, Equal Pay Day falls on Mar. 24, 2021. The day signifies the pay gap between men and women, showing how far into 2021 a woman has to work until she’s earned the same amount a man earned for the same work in 2020. The gender pay gap is genuine: In 2020, women earned 81 cents for every $1 a man earned. Women consistently earn less than men, and that gap widens when it comes to Black and Indigenous women and women of color.
First observed by the National Committee for Pay Equity in 1996, Equal Pay Day has become a useful tool in achieving gender pay equity. A new study conducted by MoneyGeek has found there isn’t just one Equal Pay Day, however.
There are stark Equal Pay Day disparities between cities and states. MoneyGeek has found that some cities have an Equal Pay Day that falls after or before the national day, making their individual pay gap less than the national average. In some cities, the gap is so wide, it would take more than an entire extra year for a woman to earn as much as a man did for the previous year’s work.