This new congressional bill could be particularly important for women of color, whose average adjusted-for-inflation earnings declined between 2004 and 2014, according to a new report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. The wage gap between men and women, on average, has been gradually closing, partly because men’s wages have been dropping . But white women have reaped a disproportionate share of the benefits. A federal ban on using salary history to inform pay offers could give women of color a much-needed boost, especially for those who rightly suspect that negotiating a salary could make them seem aggressive or disagreeable to potential employers.
