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Mom's Equal Pay Day

Mom's Equal Pay Day

Despite the progress we have made together advancing pay equity and childcare policies and legislation, mothers in New York and around the country, still struggle for pay equity and financial stability, which was dramatically highlighted by the pandemic. To raise awareness, National Mom's Equal Pay Day is being observed on August 15, 2023, the day that mothers catch up to fathers in terms of equal pay. #MomsEqualPayDay

fact sheet moms equal pay day

  • Full-time working moms in NY earn 78 cents compared to fathers, or $14,000 less in yearly income. Join us online on 8/15 for #MomsEqualPayDay! For posts + graphics: https://bit.ly/MEPD23 #EqualPayNY

  • Including full and part-time workers, Latina and Black mothers in the US earn 36¢ and 48¢ compared to fathers! We must fight for equity and fairness for all moms! #MomsEqualPayDay  #EqualPayNY

  • 54% of New York mothers are primary breadwinners which makes closing the wage gap imperative! #MomsEqualPay #MomsEqualPayDay #EqualPayNY
     
  • The cost of infant care forces a typical New York family to spend 22.1% of its income on childcare for an infant. Without affordable childcare, how will mothers reach #equalpay? #MomsEqualPayDay #EqualPayNY
     
  • NYS ranks 6th out of 50 states for the most expensive infant care! Access to affordable childcare is vital for working moms. #MomsEqualPayDay #ChildcareNY #EqualPayNY
     
  • Mothers continue to experience significant pay disparities and barriers in the workforce. Learn more about the impact here: https://bit.ly/MEPD23 #MomsEqualPayDay  #EqualPayNY

Facts:

  • For full-time workers, the wage gap for mothers in New York State was 78¢ for every dollar fathers earned which translates to $14,000 less in yearly income. The national wage gap for mothers is 74 cents.

  • When you include part-time workers, the wage gap for mothers in New York State was 65¢ for every dollar fathers earned. The national gap is 62¢.

  • This map illustrates that those numbers change dramatically by race. For example: Full-time/part-time working Black mothers earn 56/48cents and Latina mothers earn 49/36cents.

  • On an average day, women in the United States spend 37 percent more time on unpaid household and care work than men. 

  • In July 2022, nearly one in five women with children in their household (18.5%) reported they sometimes or often could not afford enough to eat in the past week.


 

  • Pandemic:

    • In April 2020, 45% of mothers of school-age children were not working nationally.
    • Between March and April 2020, an estimated 3.5 million mothers of school-aged children left their jobs, according to research from the U.S. Census Bureau.(NYS DOL report) This amounted to 45% of mothers not working in the U.S. in April 2020.
    • As schools and child care centers re-opened, mothers returned to the workforce and the gap in employment between men and women diminished. By January 2021, over 18.5 million mothers were working, up from 15.5 million in April, but still 1.6 million fewer than in January 2020.(NYS DOL report) 
  • Child Care:
    • The lack of affordable childcare in New York State has long been a barrier preventing mothers of young children from entering the workforce. According to the Economic Policy Institute, New York is ranked 6th out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia for the most expensive infant care. A typical family in New York would have to spend 22.1% of its income on childcare for an infant.

    • More than one in four (27%) family child care providers that could serve infants and toddlers in New York City stopped operating in May 2020. Outside New York City, 28% of child care providers that could serve infants and toddlers closed, including 22% of family child care providers and 50% of child care centers that serve infants and toddlers.[25]

    • In recent NWLC polling, nearly one in six mothers (16%)—including nearly one in four mothers with children under 5 (23%)— reported that they stop working (or looking for work) when their children are not in school or child care, compared to just 6% of fathers and 11% of fathers with children under 5.

    • According to IWPR analysis of 2017 BPS data, over two-thirds, (69.4 percent) of Black single mothers did not earn a certificate or degree within six years of enrollment. Lack of financial resources and affordable childcare have been cited as the most prevalent barriers. 

  • Wealth Gap

    • Data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) show that the median Black household had a net wealth of $24,000 in 2019, or nearly 90% less than the median white household. Single Black women have an especially low median net wealth of just $7,000.

    • Only 0.5% of single Black women own their own business, a rate that is 24 times lower than for single white men; consistent with a large entrepreneurship gap. Single Black women are also 6 times less likely to own stocks than single men and nearly 50% less likely to own a home. 

  • Legislative Solutions

    • Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

    • Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers (PUMP) Act

      • Requires employers to provide: Reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for their nursing child. A place to pump at work, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public.

    • Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) 

      • Provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for specified family and medical reasons. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave.

    • The Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (FEPLA)

      • Provides for up to 12 weeks of paid time off for the birth of an employee's child, or the placement of a child with an employee for adoption or foster care.

    • 2023 - New York State Paid Family Leave (New York City)

      • Builds on a prior program enacted in 2016 that greatly expanded paid family leave for employees statewide and increased the share of private workers eligible for the benefit in New York to at least 88 percent in 2021 — compared to 23 percent nationally.

  • Effectiveness of legislation for working moms: 

    • With paid leave, mothers’ chances of being re-hospitalized are reduced by more than half (51 percent). And the likelihood of their infants being re-hospitalized in the first year is reduced by almost half (47 percent).

    • The United States is one of just a few countries in the world with no national paid leave of any kind. This federal policy failure leaves more than 100 million people – 80 percent of U.S. workers – without paid time off after the birth or adoption of a child. Nearly half of workers (46 percent) are not even guaranteed unpaid, job-protected leave through the Family and Medical Leave Act.² Further, about one in 14 workers each year needs leave but does not take it, most often because they cannot afford to take unpaid leave.³

    • Just 43% of Black workers and 25% of Latinx workers have access to paid parental leave, according to a 2018 report published by The Center For Law And Social Policy.

    • About 83% of parents start out breastfeeding their children after birth, according to 2019 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By the time kids are three months old, 69% are breastfeeding, falling to 56% at six months.

Some Resources:

 

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