By Rachel Hicks (they/them/theirs)

I graduated from college in 2014 at the young age of twenty-one, thinking I was going straight to graduate school for Political Science. Instead, two years later, I moved to Washington, DC to begin work as a volunteer coordinator with a starting salary of $33,000. When I decided not to go to grad school, I recalled my father’s words to my younger sister and me. “You’ve got to work twice as hard to get half of what they got,” “they” being white people. As a Black, non-binary femme, I understand that inequity was and is heavily ingrained in our system—and running a race that has so many hurdles and obstacles is a fairly accurate analogy for the Black experience in working America, academia in particular.

On average, Black women make sixty-two cents for every dollar a white man makes, or 38 percent less than white men and 21 percent less than white women. According to Lean In, 53 percent of Americans are not even aware of the pay gap between Black and white women. 

Black women face a unique struggle as it pertains to advancing their professional careers. Experiencing the negative consequences of both race and gender, they are often systematically held at specific positions or levels in the workplace and not always given opportunities to advance. My story is similar. 

When I moved to DC in 2016, I worked as a volunteer coordinator at a non-profit that primarily served local African-American seniors with low-to-medium income. My salary was $31,000 per year. I then received a $3,000 bonus, which was huge compared to my salary. At the time, a person needed to make approximately $83,000 to live comfortably in DC, but the median household income was only around $69,000.

Then I started my new job as a Development Assistant and Database Administrator. My starting salary was $43,000, and I was required to have a specific skill set (two years of experience with Salesforce). To provide some context, development assistants make on average $38,000-$40,000 in DC; database administrators make $113,000 on average. Together, these two positions should provide an average income of $76,500. Since I started three years ago, my title has since changed to Development Database Associate, and my salary has been adjusted to approximately $55,000. 

In nearly ⅓ (30 percent) of cases, Black women are left to negotiate their own promotions, while 24 percent unsuccessfully attempt to negotiate simple raises. By being denied the opportunity to move up in the workplace, Black women are left unable to close the wage gap, thus unable to attain the economic security comparable to their white counterparts. For white women, the average amount of income lost (annually) due to the pay gap is $555,000, while Black women’s is almost double that at $941,600. Pay equity with a comprehensive racial parity lens is imperative if there is a desire to close the wage gap.

Pay parity is a simple concept. It is the belief that every worker should have access to the same working conditions as comparable employees at the same organization. Pay equity is a step in achieving pay parity because pay equity looks at multiple aspects in which people may be marginalized and how that marginalization affects their work. To achieve pay parity and pay equity, organizations must invest in diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI. Making advancements in this field requires raising awareness and providing education. Occasions like Black Women’s Equal Pay Day can help raise awareness and serve to understand how race impacts the pay gap and how it ultimately affects Black – but further research into the pay gap’s impact on Black women, with the intent to close it, is vital.

Organizations and companies should move with swift moral urgency to pay Black women wholly and equitably. Just as the president made Juneteenth a federal holiday, granting many workers paid time off, employers should also lead with racial equity to ensure the recognition of the many systemic, racial hurdles in the workplace. Many people are just now discovering the history of Juneteenth, a celebration of remembrance for the day Black Americans were finally informed of their freedom following the Emancipation Proclamation.

On Juneteenth and every day, Black women should be encouraged to seek higher positions and their accompanying salaries. This should not exclusively include tokenizing positions such as Chief Diversity Officer. Black women receiving pay equity is directly related to the emphasis an organization places on DEI. Their lack of equal pay is indicative of an economic crisis. Organizations that pay them equitably and place them in executive-level positions consistently outperform those that don’t. So employers, if you do not already, pay Black women for their labor and thank them once again for saving the day.