For Equal Pay Day (April 4), LeanIn.Org is launching #20PercentCounts, a campaign to raise awareness that women on average are paid 20 percent less than men in the United States. Black women are paid 37 percent less and Hispanic women are paid 46 percent less.
“Equal pay is essential to the goal of gender equality,” said Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and founder of LeanIn.Org. “This issue speaks to how we value women’s labor, knowledge, time, training, and so much more. In short, it’s about women’s worth. There’s nothing more fundamental than that.”
The gender pay gap disadvantages women and impacts families’ ability to buy groceries, pay for child care, invest in their children’s education, and more. If we closed the gender pay gap, the average woman would make $530,000 more over the course of her career, and millions of women and families would be lifted out of poverty. If we closed the pay gap, women on average could afford 78 more weeks of groceries each year—for Black and Hispanic women it would mean 155 and 193 additional weeks of food respectively.
In support of #20PercentCounts, businesses in twenty-five from Boston to St. Louis to Atlanta are offering 20 percent discounts on everyday purchases from coffee to pizza to pet supplies. Leaders from the Lean In Circles program, a global network of small peer support groups, are spearheading this grassroots effort. With support from LeanIn.Org, leaders recruited participating businesses and are serving as spokespeople for the campaign in their communities.
- LUNA is offering 20% off all LUNA Bars sold on lunabar.com (while supplies last) from April 3–11 and matching the discount amount with a donation of up to $100,000 to fund salary negotiation workshops in partnership with the American Association of University Women (AAUW)
- Lyft, which completes 20 million rides per month, is donating 20 percent of proceeds from rides taken in over 240 cities on April 4 to organizations that serve women and families—and will share the campaign with their customers via their app and online channels
- P&G is offering a rebate on its products through April 30 (via pre-paid card) and will be promoting the importance of equal pay to 46 million U.S. households
A local Lean In Circle got Dayton businesses to participate in the campaign. The businesses will be offering 20% discounts on Equal Pay Day.
Dayton metro area specific pay gap data, provided by the National Partnership for Women and Families (NPWF), shows for the Dayton-metro region. Based on the data available from 2015, the wage gap in the Miami Valley is 25%.
Equal Pay Day marks how far all women need to work into 2017 to earn what men were paid in 2016. Because Black and Hispanic women face an even larger wage gap, they have to work until July 31 and November 2 respectively to catch up.
“We are committed to championing women in the push for equality—inspiring this generation to raise their voice so that the next generation of girls can focus on their efforts and not their paychecks,” said Kit Crawford, co-chief Visionary Officer of Clif Bar & Company and owner of the LUNA brand. “April 4th is Equal Pay Day, but our work to level the playing field doesn’t end here. We are proud to partner with LeanIn.Org and AAUW to work towards closing the gender pay gap and support equality for women everywhere.”
“We are proud to support LeanIn.Org’s efforts to raise awareness about the pay gap between women and men,” said Carolyn Tastad, P&G Group President North America & Executive Sponsor Gender Equality. “P&G is passionately committed to equal pay. P&G is passionately committed to gender equality. We know that when women have the opportunity for full and equal representation that businesses perform better, economies thrive, communities are healthier, and the world is a better place—for all of us.”
