Even when pay equity was among President Obama’s top agenda items after taking office, this produced the ultimately limited-use Lilly Ledbetter Act, which extended the statute of limitations for suing a company discovered to be paying unequal wages for equal work. But research shows that outright pay discrimination accounts for only a minor portion of the gender pay gap. Right-wing policymakers have used this fact to argue that the pay gap isn’t real. But, as the Institute for Women’s Policy Research has written, “Just because the gender wage gap is multi-faceted does not make it a lie.”
The multiple causes of the pay gap mean there are countless reforms that could individually make incremental progress on ending the disparity. Luckily, most of the most promising reforms don’t require an ounce of effort from the Trump administration. Support for fairer wages is overwhelmingly high—84 percent among men and 91 percent among women—and there’s a vibrant movement of activists who have mobilized since the election, looking for solutions to this and other gender equality problems. Trump’s presence in the White House may actually help galvanize people to act on these issues, since they know not to expect any friendly assistance from the executive branch. Here are four areas where pay gap warriors can focus their energy and expect to see more victories in the coming months:
