Across the US, female full-time, year-round workers were paid 82 cents for every dollar earned by a man, which is a gender pay gap of 18%, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. And that may be underestimating the pay gap because when looking at pay over a 15-year period, women made just half of what men earned.

According to the IWPR, at the current rate of change it will take 40 years for women to achieve pay parity. For women of color, it would take even longer.  A reporting rule put into place in the UK in 2018 requires companies with more than 250 employees to report data on gender pay disparities. Advocates for equal pay in the US are asking for similar disclosure requirements because research has shown that company disclosure leads to closing pay gaps.