Women know too well what the term wage gap means. It means earning less money than men do for the exact same job. Overall, women in general earn about $.77 for every dollar that a white man makes, but for minority women, the gap is even larger.
Wage gap among minority women
Latino women experience the biggest wage gaps, earning just 56.5 cents for every dollar that a white male earns, followed by African-American women who earn 63.7 cents for every dollar earned by a white non-Hispanic male. These are the national averages for minority women. But in some states, the gap is huge, meaning that minority women in particular are earning significantly less than white males.
States where the wage gap is largest
California is the worst state for Latino women where the wage gap is 56.4 cents, meaning Latino women are only earning 43.6 cents for every dollar that a non-Hispanic white male earns. For African-American women, the worst state is Louisiana where black women earn 53.4 cents for every dollar a white male earns. These gaps are much larger than the national average.
These figures were recently released by the National Women's Law Center and were taken from Census data. The National Women's Law Center was established as a non-profit organization in 1972 to support causes for women in the areas of education, employment, family and economic security, and health and reproductive rights. They are particularly active in assisting with the needs of low-income women and their families.
To find out which states represent the top 10 worst for wages for both Hispanic and African-American women, visit:www.nwlc.org/our-blog/all-states-are-not-created-equal-worst-offenders-wage-gap-women-color-revealed
