It’s 2017, and yet women are still fighting for equality. Data suggests it will take until 2152 to close the gender wage gap, but it shouldn’t take a century to get what we want. We want more, and Refinery29 is here to help — because 135 years is too long to wait for what we deserve today.
Women currently working in the White House face a larger wage gap than the national average. As per a Congressional rule instated in 1995, the White House released salary information for its 377 staffers on June 30. A CNN analysis of the White House's annual report to Congress found that women on staff were paid an average of 80 cents for every dollar paid to men on staff. Currently, the national average is 82 cents for every dollar.
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It is important to note that the data does not show unequal pay for the same jobs, but rather that there are fewer women in higher-paid roles. In the full report, it shows that approximately half the men working in the White House make $95,000 or more annually. Comparatively, half the women on staff make $70,100 or less.
How many women are in higher paid positions in the White House exactly? The number can be counted on one hand. Of the 22 highest paid staff members, only five are women. An observation of the report by Newsweek showed that men and women were relatively even within the lower-paid bracket where salaries go up to $50,000. As far as the number of women and men working in the White House, the ratio is close to an even split with 47% of staff being women and 53% men. A 2015 study conducted by LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Co. found that women are 15% less likely to get promoted compared to their male colleagues.
A wage gap in the White House is not a new phenomenon. A report by The Washington Post in 2014 showed that while the disparity was less when Barack Obama was president, there was still a 13% difference in annual salary between men and women. That was roughly 10% lower than the 23.5% national average at the time. That same year, Obama signed an executive order promoting fair pay which included a mandate for paycheck transparency. It also did away with forced arbitration in cases of sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination. Movement toward equal pay continued when according to a report by the Office of Personnel Management, the federal government pay gap had decreased to 11% by 2015.
In March, Trump revoked the Obama-era mandate just days before Equal Pay Day on April 4. Data suggests that pay parity will not be reached in the U.S. until 2152 given the current rate of change.