Why Do Women Still Earn Less Than Men?

Last year's tax returns may already be signed, sealed and delivered, but April 20 is the day the average American woman will finally finish earning her 2009 salary — at least, the one she would have pulled down if she were a man. That's because U.S. women still earned only 77 cents on the male dollar in 2008, according to the latest Census stats. (That number drops to 68% for African-American women and 58% for Latinas.) To highlight the need for change, since 1996 the National Committee on Pay Equity, an advocacy-group umbrella organization, has marked April 20 as Equal Pay Day. There are some signs of progress: the first bill President Obama signed into law as President targeted the U.S. pay gap, and the Senate is currently considering another meant to address underlying discrimination. But the question remains: Why has it taken so long? Nearly half a century after it became illegal to pay women less on the basis of their sex, why do American women still earn less than men?

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