Pay Inequality

Original Post: February 22, 2022 

 This information comes from Karen Caitlin, author of Better Allies and a terrific regular newsletter you can also subscribe to. 

"September 21 is Black Women’s Equal Pay Day here in the U.S. — the day Black women must work into 2022 to catch up with what white, non-Hispanic men earned in 2021. In even more depressing news, it’s more than a month later than last year (August 3, 2021), which means the pay gap has become worse. While I hope organizations everywhere are doing compensation reviews by gender and race and fixing inequities, this may not be happening. 

In the Harvard Business Review’s How to Identify — and Fix — Pay Inequality at Your Company, author Amii Barnard-Bahn wrote that in a survey of the 922 largest public U.S. companies, only 22% reported performing a salary audit between 2016 and 2020. So, check on your organization’s plans regarding a pay equity review. Ask about it at an all-staff meeting or send a message to your head of HR to let them know this topic is important to you.  I love this final message from Barnard-Bahn: “There is no way to feel more included than to be paid equal to the person sitting next to me.” 

 That’s all for this week. I wish you strength and safety as we all move forward. 

 — Karen Catlin (she/her), Author of Better Allies®" 

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