Latina Equal Pay Day

Today is a holiday that shouldn't exist. But, here we are! October 3rd, along with being Mean Girls day, is Latina Equal Pay Day. As of a more recent study, a Latina woman makes about 51 cents for every dollar a non-hispanic white man makes. Not only this, but the pay gap has widened for the first time in 20 years. I read statistics like these and I feel defeated. I no longer want to have to uplift and fight to be treated equal. We deserve more than the bare minimum.

You know when you see those random holidays on social media and assume that they were just made to capitalize off of people? That is honestly what I thought until I saw this one. By seeing people I idolize like Justina Machado and Diana Maria Riva post these statistics is what made me realize that Latinas were the group making the least amount of money. I wouldn't be able to make this post and inform all of you if it weren't for those social media posts. So, next time there's an awareness day or an awareness month and it comes across your feed, maybe instead take the time to learn something!

It doesn't feel right to post this without acknowledging my privilege. I know because of the color of my skin I will most likely not have to worry about this. But, just because it doesn't affect me doesn't mean it won't affect the people I love. So, here are some statistics from equalpaytoday.org I feel everyone should know and will hopefully encourage you to fight alongside me!

• On average Latina workers stand to lose more than $1.2 million over the course of a 40-year career due to the wage gap.

• For women who are immigrants, their citizenship status often makes them more vulnerable to wage theft and sexual harassment.

• There is an act called the BE HEARD Act (The Bringing an End to Harassment by Enhancing Accountability and Rejecting Discrimination), that works to address workplace harassment through federal protections against harassment and other forms of discrimination to all working people, promoting transparency and accountability in the workplace, clarifying that sex discrimination at work includes harassment and other forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and eliminating forced arbitration and the subminimum wage for tipped employees. 

• If you go to equalpaytoday.org, there are resources to contact to encourage them to close the pay gap and pass the BE HEARD Act!