Pay equality is losing ground. This year’s Equal Pay Day — which marks how many more days into the year women must work for their pay to match men’s — is March 26, one day later than last year. Women now earn 81 cents for every dollar men earn — the second straight year the gap has expanded, a first since the 1960s. Meanwhile, a new AP-NORC poll found 6 in 10 employed women say men have more opportunities for competitive wages, while just 1 in 10 men feel disadvantaged.
For most women, that’s 81 cents on the dollar.
For Black women, Latinas, and Native women, it’s far less.
For mothers, the gap is wider still.
And this year, it got worse — for the second year in a row.
We’re seeing why in real time. Return-to-office mandates are pushing women with young children out. Cuts to child care, healthcare, and food assistance are making it harder to stay in. More than 455,000 women left the workforce in the first eight months of 2025 alone.
These aren’t individual choices. They’re policy choices.
When we underinvest in child care, the gap widens.
When we fail to pass paid leave, the gap widens.
When job quality erodes, the gap widens.
We know what works. The question is whether we choose to act.