March is U.S. Women’s History Month when we celebrate contributions that women have made throughout American history. In looking at the work on reducing the gender pay gap, progress has been very slow despite dating back to the 1860’s when women’s rights activists, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, were advocating for gender pay equity. Despite the passage of the Equal Pay Act in 1963 (meant to ensure equal pay for equal work), it’s widely recognized that the gender and racial wage gaps persist today. In Massachusetts, the Boston Women’s Workforce Council (BWWC) is committed to narrowing the pay gaps and have made a free online Employer Wage Gap Calculator available to help raise awareness and enable companies to “do the math” as an important step toward pay equity.

Beyond pay gaps, learning about what wealth gaps are and why they matter provides a clearer lens to understand the economic impact of pay disparities and how wealth is linked to gender, race, and ethnicity, and marital status. The wealth gap is defined as the measure of household assets minus liabilities. For every $1 of wealth held by families headed by non-Hispanic white men, families headed by Black and Hispanic women owned 5 and 10 cents, respectively (see chart below), according to Understanding the Gender Wealth Gap, and Why it Matters by Mariko Chang, Ana Hernández Kent, and Heather McCullough. U.S. wealth gaps adversely affect the economic lives of minority individuals and families, and impact our entire society by hindering overall economic prosperity making this an important issue that we can all benefit from addressing.

To raise awareness, explore root causes, and provide education on the gender and wealth gaps , the BWWC recently presented a webinar for their Q1 Signer Briefing, “Women and Money: Closing Gender Wage and Wealth Gaps through Straight Talk on Investing” featuring Sally Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest. Each of us can identify our financial values, priorities, and goals while overcoming numerous money myths and negative narratives. Taking action to reduce wage and wealth gaps and learning new strategies to build your generational wealth are all great ways create a more equitable financial future and celebrate Women’s History Month.

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Source: Understanding the Gender Wealth Gap, and Why it Matters by Mariko Chang, Ana Hernández Kent and Heather McCullough