Are Latinas Half Worthy?

Tomorrow is Latina Equal Pay Day. It is not a celebration.?It is a day to acknowledge the pay gap that Latinas face and denotes how far into the year Latinas must work to be paid what men were paid the previous year.?In 2020, Latina Equal Pay Day fell on October 12th. Unfortunately, in 2022, the gap continued to widen and Latina Equal Pay Day falls on December 8th this year.?This means that it takes an entire 2 years for a Latina to make what a white man makes in 12 months.?Over their lifetime, Latinas lose $1.1 million due to the pay gap.

Latinas are currently paid 0.49 on every dollar that a cis-genedred white non-Hispanic makes.*?They are disproportionately the lowest paid of any ethnic minority and are overrepresented in low wage, essential worker roles.

The numbers are even worse for Latina mothers. Lean In’s data estimates that Latina mothers make just 46 cents to every dollar earned by a white father. 46 cents is also the average pay gap for "foreign born" Latinas.

According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, if progress continues at the same rate, Latinas will not see equal pay until 2206.?That’s 184 years from now!! This is unacceptable and frankly outrages me.?It is one of the many reasons I decided that NOW was the time to write my book regarding Latina Leadership and their influence in the workforce.

According to EqualPayDay.org, if the gender wage gap were eliminated, the average woman would have enough additional money every year for:

• An entire additional year of child care;
• One year of tuition and fees for a 4-year public university, or the full cost of tuition and fees for a 2-year college;
• More than 9 months of rent for the following year;
• 7 months of health insurance (premiums through employer-based plans);
• More than a year’s worth of food; OR
• Enough money to pay off their student loan debt in un

The impact to our families, communities and to the larger society as a whole would be significant. To address these barriers, we need to hold organizations accountable, push for meaningful salary transparency laws and call on the support of our allies.

In addition to the pay wage gap implications listed above, we must consider the implications to the mental health of Latinas when they are shown they are not valued the same as their white, male counterparts and carry the financial burdens for their families.

Latinas, we also have to look within and do the work to dismantle limiting beliefs, improve our professional skills (personal branding, negotiations, networking, etc) and become stronger self-advocates. Not just of ourselves but for our Latina sisters too. Rather than seeing each other as competition, let's supporter and collaborate with each other. This means ditching the scarcity mindset.

So back to my questions in the headline. Are Latinas half as worthy?

Absolutely not.

The market doesn't determine our worth.

We do.

No longer do we stay "calladita" (quiet). Now is the time we speak up and demand equal pay. ?Págame mas!

We are 100% worth it!

In Solidarity,

Ruby

* There are varying reports of 54 and 57 cents and that is based on varying statistics including only those full-time employees working year-round vs part-time employees vs those unemployed or laid off.