Equal Pay Day symbolizes the number of days, on average, that women have to work past the end of the previous year to have earned the same amount of money as men in that year. For example, the Equal Pay Day of Tuesday, March 12, 2024 signifies that a woman would have had to work nearly three full months into 2024 until she would earn the same amount earned by a male counterpart. Put another way, women earn in 15 months what men earn in just 12 months.
provides representations of current data on the gender pay gap. Data representations include bar graphs and line graphs. Graphs and charts include:
- The pay gap by gender and race
- The pay gap by education level (with options to compare earnings of women of different races with those of white men)
- The pay gap by occupation (with options to compare earnings of women of different races with those of white men)
- Average lost income over a 40-year career due to the pay gap, broken down by race
In a math class, these data could be tied in to lessons on representations of data and proportional reasoning. They could also be incorporated into lessons in other subjects such as history, civics, government, or politics.
After learning about the gender pay gap, students may want to talk about how to negotiate for a raise. from both the employee and employer sides. It also offers advice on deciding whether to pursue a raise and how to go about doing it. (Note that the target audience for the site is people pursuing or considering pursuing graduate degrees, so teachers may want to curate the advice for relevance.
Some ideas for sample math units/lessons:
- , one of NYSED/CUNY’s
- at
- (NCTM members click to access the full article.)
Other general resources on the topic include:
- – includes several interesting infographics
- – the history of Equal Pay Day
- (Asian American and Pacific Islander, Black, Native, Latina)