Pay Black Women What They’re Worth

Today is Black Women’s Equal Pay Day — the day an average Black woman must work into 2020 to get paid what an average white man did in 2019.

If “August 13” doesn’t spell it out clearly enough, here are a few other ways to think about it:

A new report by Lean In talks about why this wage gap happens in the corporate world. Two words: systemic racism. Senior leaders are less likely to interact with or promote Black women (even though Black women ask). Black women are also affected by day-to-day discrimination and microaggressions — and don’t see strong allies in the workplace.

And because 2020 is 2020, the pandemic is magnifying all of these inequities.

So what can we do?

Rooting for us all,

Julie Ross Godar, she/her
Editor in Chief

bro∙ken rung

A metaphor that illustrates how women are less likely to get promoted up the ladder — starting from the very first promotion to management level. That broken rung then affects the rest of their career trajectory. Black women’s careers tend to be especially impacted by broken rungs.

Small $$ win of the week

“I have savings that will last me 2–3 months. My goal is to build a living fund, aka save enough money that I can still pay my bills while I build my business. The pandemic made me realize I was spending my money on the wrong things.”

— Penny, an Elle Raiser from Dallas, TX 🙌

Tell us about your latest small $$ win here.

Do more for your money and career.