International Women's Day 2023 marks another year without shrinking the gender pay gap

As the world celebrates International Women’s Day on Wednesday, women aren't breaking out the champagne – at least not the expensive kind. And for good reason: employers are still not showing them the money. 

After shrinking in the 1980s and the 1990s, the gender pay gap hasn’t budged in the 21st Century despite gains in the 20th Century.

In 1982, women earned 65 cents for every dollar men earned. Today they earn 82 cents, barely more than the 80 cents they earned in 2002, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of median hourly earnings of full-time and part-time workers.

And education is not leveling the playing field. The pay gap is just as stubborn for college-educated women as it is for women who don’t have a college degree.

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Motherhood cuts into your pay but being a dad doesn't

Having children is a major factor restraining the earning potential of women. But becoming a father actually helps men. 

Working dads are more likely to put in long hours than men who don’t have children at home and they earn a “fatherhood wage premium,” Pew says. 

Wage gap for women worsens the older they get

Some more bad news: The wage gap for women gets worse as they get older.

In 2010, women ages 25 to 34 earned 92% as much as men their age, compared with 83% of women overall. By 2022, this same group of women now ages 37 to 46 earned just 84% as men their age.

Women are more educated than ever. They still make less money

The number of women with a bachelor’s degree or greater has increased faster than men.

In 2022, nearly half – 48% – of employed women had at least a bachelor’s degree compared with 41% of men.

But college-educated women are no closer to wage parity with men. In fact, women without a college degree have made more progress.

Black and Hispanic women face widest pay gap

Black and Hispanic women have the widest gap.

In 2022, Black women earned 70% as much as white men and Hispanic women 65% as much, while white women earned 83% and Asian women 93% as much.

Who’s to blame? Many women say discrimination

Some 61% of women say employers who treat women differently are a primary reason for the wage gap, while 45% say women’s choices about work and family are also a major factor. 

There are political differences in how people view the wage gap.

About two-thirds of Democrats and democratic-leaning independents blame employers while half of Republicans blame work and faily balance and 39% blame women’s tendency to work in jobs that pay less.