Closing the Gender Wage Gap

Mar 22, 2023

March 14 marks Equal Pay Day鈥攖he day that indicates how far into the year women must work in order to reach pay parity with their male counterparts from the previous year. Although there has been progress on some aspects of women鈥檚 rights over the decade, has stubbornly persisted for two decades.

On average, women who are employed full time earn only 84% of what their male peers earn. The pay gap increases for women of color, with Black women earning 67% and Latina and Indigenous women earning 57% of what white, non-Hispanic men earn.

精东影业 Racial Justice Editor Sonali Kolhatkar spoke with Michele Kilpatrick, co-director of advocacy and mobilization at the , about closing the wage gap for Rising Up With Sonali.

The views expressed here and on Rising Up With Sonali do not necessarily reflect the opinion of 精东影业 Media.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined 精东影业 in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽精东影业 Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.