April 3 is Equal Pay Day for AANHPI women. Organizations and advocates are speaking out about the gender pay gaps AANHPI women face.
According to the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF), AANHPI women made, on average, 80 cents for every dollar white, non-Hispanic men made last year. AANHPI people are not a monolith, and when broken down by ethnicity that amount drops to as low as 49 cents for Bangladeshi women.
NAPAWF released a graph breaking down the wage gap by ethnicity. A version of the graph on the organization’s website also highlights the wage gap for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women.
The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) has also broken down wage gap data by state, noting that in California, the state with the highest population of AANHPI people, AANHPI women make 79 cents for every dollar made by a white man.
NAPAWF and EPIC (Empowering Pacific Islander Communities), a social justice organization empowering Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, have been working with Equal Pay Today to raise awareness about the wage gap issues AANHPI women endure. This year, the three organizations released a social media toolkit meant to help others spread the word.
AANHPI politicians have also released statements on Equal Pay Day. The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus issued a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, that specifically emphasized the gap is even wider for Bangladeshi, Nepalese, Southeast Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women.
Read more about the wage inequality issues Pasifika women face here.
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