April is Equal Pay Month, which represents how far into the new year women have to keep working to earn on average what men earned just in the previous calendar year. Women of color, moms, women with disabilities, lesbians, bisexual women, and transgender people have to work even longer to catch up. If you take a look at the lifetime wage gap, it’s between $365,000 and $1 million depending on race.
It’s not always as simple as men getting paid more for the same work, although sometimes it is! It may be rooted in women not being offered promotions, or because what’s traditionally considered women’s work isn’t valued, or because of a lack of access to paid leave. This is all to say that there are many reasons why the wage gap exists.
This Equal Pay Month, we’re not just imagining a better life for all women but we’re making it happen! Across the country, 9to5 is taking action to close the wage gap and level the playing field for all people.  9to5 Atlanta is marching for Equal Pay, while Colorado members lobby for statewide equal pay legislation and speak to the press. High school students in the Bay Area get a treat as 9to5 San Jose delivers a lesson about Equal Pay, along with 79% of a cookie. 9to5 and San Jose’s local Coalition for Equal Pay will reach almost 6,000 students with not-quite complete cookies and lesson plans to help students consider causes and solutions to the wage gap.
