This year marked the second consecutive year the gender gap in earnings worsened, increasing from 17.3 percent in 2023 to 19.1 percent* in 2024. In 2024, women earned only 80.9 cents for every dollar earned by men—the lowest gender earnings ratio since 2016, when women earned 80.5 cents to the dollar compared to men. 

Equal Pay Days across this past year have highlighted how the problem of wage equity is worse for the intersecting identities of women of color, mothers, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and disabled women.  

• On April 7, we recognized Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Women’s Equal Pay Day. In 2023, AANHPI women earned 92.9 cents for every dollar earned by White men, translating to a gender wage gap of 7.1 percent. This gap is not fully explained in research by standard economic factors like education, experience, or occupation—AANHPI women earn less than White men in most occupations despite being much more likely to hold a college degree, indicating the role of labor market discrimination in shaping the gap. They are also underrepresented in leadership and management positions, and are more likely to shoulder unpaid care responsibilities that limit their ability to work.  

• Mothers’ Equal Pay Day was on May 6 this year, when we documented that mothers earned 74.3 cents for every dollar earned by fathers—a wage gap of 25.7 percent. It’s worth noting that mothers face many more barriers than fathers in being able to work full-time or year-round due to the increasing costs and limited supply of child care and insufficient work-family supports. Mothers also face the ‘motherhood penalty’ in earnings and career progression throughout their lifetimes due to time spent away from the workforce for childbirth, taking on the bulk of care responsibilities, and the absence of/limited support in the workplace for having and caring for their children.   

• IWPR launched the first in a series of blogs for LGBTQIA+ Equal Pay Awareness Day on June 17, highlighting income, health, and economic disparities between the LGBTQIA+ and straight populations, as well as the lack of self-reported sexual orientation and gender identity in federal datasets that limit our ability to better research these differences. In 2024, 43.8 percent of LGBQ+ cisgender women and 49.3 percent of transgender/nonbinary individuals reported household incomes less than $50,000, compared to less than a third of straight cisgender men. Discrimination and harassment in the workplace lead to biases in hiring and promotion, lack of representation, and adverse mental and physical health outcomes for LGBTQIA+ workers, who saw many of their hard-won protections against discrimination start to disappear under the current administration.  

• We recognized Black Women’s Equal Pay Day on July 10,  documenting that, in 2023, Black women were paid just 66.5 cents for every dollar earned by White men—a gender wage gap of 33.5 percent. Barriers to higher education, occupational segregation, and discrimination contribute to the gender wage gap faced by Black women, despite having historically high rates of labor force participation. However, across all occupation groups, levels of education, and even in higher-paying managerial and professional jobs, Black women earned less than White men in every state. Black women saw the economy get even worse for them in the past year: Not only did wage gaps compared to White men worsen in 2024, Black women also lost more than 300,000 jobs between February and August 2025. 

• October 8 marked the 10th anniversary of Latina Equal Pay Day. In 2024, Latinas earned 58 cents for every dollar paid to White men—a gender wage gap of 42.0 percent, which is more than twice the average for all women.  Despite gains that Latinas have made in education and labor force participation in recent years, limited access to high-paying jobs keeps them from making significant progress in closing the gender wage gap: 1 in 4 Latinas worked in low-paying service occupations in 2024, a sector hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. A third of Latinas in the US are foreign-born, and the lack of clear and equitable immigration policy keeps many women in unprotected and exploitative lower-paid jobs, even before we attempt to account for current shifts in immigration policy and enforcement. 

• For Disabled Women’s Equal Pay Day on October 23, we highlighted that, in 2023, disabled women earned only 56 cents for every dollar non-disabled men made, including those working part-time or part-year. Compared to disabled men, disabled women still earned less, making 81 cents to every dollar earned by disabled men, even when working full-time year-round. Due to women’s longer life expectancies, the majority of disabled workers are women, since the likelihood of disabilities increases with age. Even with expanded remote work opportunities increasing disabled workers’ employment, disabled workers are far more likely to work part-time and report facing ableism in the workplace, impacting their earnings.  

• The last Equal Pay Day of 2025 was Native Women’s Equal Pay Day on November 18. American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) women earned barely half of what White men made in 2024: For every dollar paid to White men, AI/AN women made just 57.9 cents. This represents the largest gender wage gap among all women, at 42.1 percent. Due to the lack of resources and geographic exclusion of tribal lands, AI/AN women are likelier than any other race or ethnic group to live in poverty. They also experience high rates of discrimination, sexual harassment, and violence, and as a result are less likely to have full-time year-round high-paid jobs.  

The current administration’s attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and discrimination protections, combined with a worsening job market, mean that the wage inequities faced by marginalized women and workers may get worse instead of better in the next year. 

Not only do women face a worsening gender wage gap, but the slow rate of progress in closing this gap in the last few decades means that pay equity is a dream most women in the workforce today will not see realized in their careers. If progress continues at the same pace as it has since 2000, it will take until 2071 for women working full-time year-round to reach pay equity with men.  

The fight for pay equity is even longer for women of color. Even when working full-time year-round, at the current rate of progress, it will take until 2160 for Latinas, 2183 for Black women, and 2393 for AI/AN women to achieve pay parity with White men—more than 100 years into the future. On the other hand, Asian and White women will reach pay parity with White men much sooner, by 2028 and 2076, respectively. This means that while a typical Asian woman in the workforce today may see pay parity in her career, and a typical White woman in her daughter’s career, it will take longer than the careers of their daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters of Latina, Black, and AI/AN women in the workforce today to achieve pay parity with White men.  

*Unless otherwise noted, all numbers are for full-time year-round workers. Data for all workers with earnings can be found in each Equal Pay Day fact sheet.