Rhonda Vonshay Sharpe, Columnist

When Is Equal Pay Day for White Women?

To address inequities, researchers and policy makers must recognize people’s complex identities.

March 24, 2021 at 11:00 AM UTC

Rhonda Vonshay Sharpe is the founder and president of the Women’s Institute for Science, Equity and Race, and co-editor of the Review of Black Political Economy. Her research focuses on gender and racial inequality, diversity in science and the demography of higher education.

More than women.
Photographer: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

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Every year, the American Association for University Women marks Equal Pay Day, illustrating how far into the new year women would have to work to make as much as men did the previous year. Today is the day for “all” women. March 9 was the day for Asian American and Pacific Islander women. African American women, Native American women and Latinas will have their days on August 3, September 8 and October 2, respectively.

Yet the AAUW doesn’t feature an equal pay day for White women. Therein lies a broader problem with the way demographic data are collected and reported.