Imagine the year is 2220. Our delicate human bodies have been in hibernation mode for the past two centuries thanks to advanced science. We wake up on a Passengers-like spaceship headed to a new planet. The world is different.
For one, Earth has been obliterated. An alien captain named Goruk is guiding us on our journey. And, finally, women earn as much as men.
But today, in 2017, an equal-pay future remains a distant reality, especially for women of color. According to new data from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, the wage gap is closing at a depressingly slow rate, in almost every job across the board, per 2015 figures. Their study found that women were paid an average of 82 cents on the dollar, and the figures for black women were far lower—68% of white men’s earnings—with Latino women earning 62%. USA Today reports:
The hurdles, ranging from outright discrimination and low-paying occupations to cultural expectations that still place the burden of child-rearing on women, are steep.
“It’s been stagnant the last 10 to 15 years even though women are better educated,” says Ariane Hegewisch, an IWPR program director. She predicts that white women will earn equal pay around 2059, followed by black women in 2124 and Latino women in 2248. That’s the 23rd century.
In terms of progress, according to the Hegewisch, the glimmer of light is that college-educated single women with no children who live in cities have been earning more than men. Let’s think of that fondly for the next 231 years.