For nearly three decades, Mom’s Equal Pay Day has symbolized how far into the year moms have to work to earn what dads earned in the previous year. This year, the date moves forward from Aug. 15 to Aug. 7.
While all progress is welcome, the headlines don’t tell us the whole story, or highlight the effect of the Motherhood Penalty and the persistent pay gap. Moms who work full-time year-round earn just 71 cents for every dollar earned by dads. That figure falls to 63 cents for "all earners" (full-time year-round, plus part-time and part-year).
Background to Mom’s Equal Pay Day
Equal Pay Days began in 1996 as part of an initiative of the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE). Its goal is to raise awareness of the impact of the gender pay gap across different communities.
2024 has celebrated incremental, yet significant, progress in closing the pay gap; Equal Pay Day moved forward two days to March 12 this year. But employers have much work to do in closing the gender pay gap for working moms.
Almost three-quarters of American women with children work, however, Institute of Women’s Policy Research found that moms earn less than dads in every U.S. state. Pay gaps are significantly wider for Native, Hispanic or Latina, and Black moms.
Factors Affecting Mom’s Equal Pay
80% of the wage gap affecting working moms can be attributed to the Motherhood Penalty. That’s defined as the rate at which women’s pay falls after becoming mothers. Two key factors have a direct impact on pay equity for working moms:
Insufficient paid maternity leave: Paid or unpaid parental leave across the U.S. is patchy. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) grants 12 weeks of protected, unpaid employment leave at the federal level. Only eight states offer paid maternity and parental leave of up to 12 weeks. Thus, only 12% of Americans receive paid parental leave. For low-income families, or families of color, this falls to 5%. The U.S. is the only industrialized country without a national paid maternity leave policy.
Childcare crisis: While more moms are in work now compared with pre-pandemic levels, moms are more likely than dads to take time off work for childcare issues. Unpaid family caregiving reduces a mom’s lifetime earnings by 15%, equating to nearly $300,000. Further, two-thirds of moms have stopped working outside the home due to the prohibitive cost of childcare. Gen Z moms are less likely to be working in flexible jobs, or benefit from paid leave.
The Center for American Progress recommends pay equity as a critical priority to close the gender pay gap, including enacting pay transparency laws and salary history bans.
Expanding Pay Equity Legislation
Pay transparency legislation continues to expand across the U.S. Vermont is the latest state in 2024 to pass a law requiring salary range disclosure in job listings, following Minnesota and Maryland. Massachusetts’ passed its pay transparency law July 31 and it will go into effect July 31, 2025. California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, New York, and Washington state, as well as New York City and Washington D.C. all have salary range requirements on job postings.
Access Our Salary Range Transparency Guide
Closing the gender pay gap is a priority at the federal level too. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) plans to issue a pay data reporting requirement in 2025. Advancing equal pay is also named as a targeted priority in its Strategic Enforcement Plan 2024 through 2028. OFCCP pay data reporting compliance was expanded in 2023.
Additionally, New York City is proposing a pay data reporting requirement, and Massachusetts’ pay transparency law includes a pay data reporting requirement.
Further, if passed, the following bills would transform the pay equity landscape and help to further reduce gender pay gaps:
National Salary Transparency Act: Introduced on Equal Pay Day 2023, H.R. 1599 would require employers to include wage ranges in all public and internal job listings.
Paycheck Fairness Act: Reintroduced in 2023, the Paycheck Fairness Act is aimed at strengthening U.S. equal pay law. Proposed measures include a salary history ban and protection from employer retaliation for workers who discuss pay with their colleagues.
Pay Equity Action Items for Employers
Organizations can consider the following steps to mark Mom’s Equal Pay Day:
Introduce pay transparency in job listings: A survey from the National Women’s Law Center shows that nearly three in five adults prefer job postings that provide wage information. A similar number support pay transparency practices in their working environment. Pay equity software solutions can help to determine competitive and fair salary ranges.
Achieve Authentic Pay Equity With Software
Implement a salary history ban: Research shows that eliminating salary history from the hiring process reduces the gender pay gap. Columbus, Ohio and the state of Minnesota have enacted salary history bans in 2024.
Conduct a pay equity audit: Pay equity software rapidly enables employers to identify gender pay gaps and pay disparities. Results identify risk areas for remediation and pay gaps within every employee group and at every level in your company. An intersectional pay equity audit reveals the root causes of pay disparities, including systemic factors such as unconscious bias and enables meaningful steps to close gender pay gaps and ensure better representation of working moms.
Pay equity software supports your efforts to close the pay gap and identifies disparities that negatively impact working moms. Start your journey to equal pay today.
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