For black women healing from gun violence and police brutality in their community, there are countless hidden costs lurking behind trauma.
She was overwhelmed and took a six-month leave of absence. She lost thousands of dollars in wages.
These are the forces that often work against marginalized communities in their struggle for equal pay.
Rethinking Equal Pay Day
When we acknowledge Equal Pay Day, we must reshape the contours of what “equal pay” really means, because fighting for fair wages can’t happen without addressing the historic disenfranchisement of women of color and marginalized communities.
In short, a woman’s paycheck isn’t the whole story.
Among those largely absent from the conversation about equal pay are migrant women living in detention centers, making $1 a day.
Some assignments, like kitchen duty, put them at an increased risk of experiencing sexual abuse. According to Jacqueline Stevens, founding director of the Deportation Research Clinic at Northwestern University, these aren’t places that recognize employment laws.
It’s a real paradox, Stevens says. The women need to make money and need to have access to the kitchen, and because they’re in custody of law enforcement, many basic legal rights don’t even exist. “If they wanted to avoid being mauled, they’d have to quit their job,” says Stevens.
And that’s not an option.
Displacement
Transgender activist Joanna Cifredo’s family is among thousands of Puerto Rican families grappling with the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. For the last decade, her mother has worked as a housekeeper in Kissimmee, Fla., where she earns $10.10 an hour. Since the hurricane, she has taken in several family members who need shelter.
Women like Cifredo’s mom will continue to shoulder much of the financial stress of disasters like this one.
“To be Puerto Rican is to be a displaced people,“ says Cifredo.
Classism
Many women of color in non-traditional jobs are also caught in a stretch of uncertainty. Women like Gizelle Marie, a Bronx native and self-described “strippreneur” started the New York City Stripper Strike to bring attention to the racism and classism many strippers face.
“You can’t be a feminist and exclude certain women based on occupation women choose to do or are forced into” says Marie.
Today we acknowledge Equal Pay Day, which marks how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year. We must ensure this is a day when we truly root for all women.
We can’t continue to fall for the traps that divide us, weakening our collective strength, and we can no longer pick a la carte which women hold enough arbitrary societal value to advocate for.
