Governor Stein Proclaims March 25th as North Carolina Equal Pay Day, Celebrates Women's History Month
(RALEIGH) Today, Governor Josh Stein proclaimed March 25 as North Carolina Equal Pay Day to highlight ongoing gender pay disparities and to encourage government, business, and nonprofit sectors to close the wage gap for all women.
Equal Pay Day marks the point in the year that women must work on average, to make equal to what their male counterparts earned during the previous year. Women in North Carolina and across the United States continue to experience a significant wage gap, earning less than men for performing the same work, with women of color facing even larger disparities.
“Closing the gender pay gap would make our families, our economy, and our state more prosperous,” said Governor Josh Stein. “I am committed to making sure that every North Carolinian has an equal opportunity for success in our state.”
“Eliminating pay inequities would strengthen our economy and improve quality of life for North Carolina’s women, children, and families,” said North Carolina Department of Administration Secretary Gabriel J. Esparza. “More than half the state’s population are women and many women are the primary breadwinners for their families. We must continue to find and develop creative ways to ensure that North Carolinians receive equal pay for equal work. Your pay should be determined by your skill, your experience and your effort, not your gender.”
According to The State of Working Women: The 2023 State of Working North Carolina report, in 2022, women working full-time earned $2.04 less than the median hourly wage for men. The wage disparity was even wider for women of color, with Latina women earning $7.23 less and Black women earning $3.45 less than the median hourly wage for men of all races.
To help address the gender pay gap for women workers in North Carolina, since 2019, state government agencies no longer use salary history in the hiring process, as relying on past salary history can perpetuate unfairly lower pay for women doing the same work as men.
Earlier this week, Governor Stein hosted women leaders from across the state at the Executive Mansion for the Women's History Month Reception, in line with this year's theme "Women in Leadership." At the event, Governor Stein signed the proclamation recognizing March as Women's History Month.
To attract more women and girls to careers in state government, the NC Council for Women and Youth Involvement hosts the Lady Cardinal Mentorship Program for high school girls each summer. The program nurtures the girls’ interest in STEM careers within state government by offering practical experience in the field. Fifty-seven girls have completed the program since its beginning.
Career awareness programs such as Students@Work also help ensure North Carolina youth have equal footing in the professional world, by exposing middle school students to careers they may not otherwise discover.
Last month, Governor Stein commemorated the 15-year anniversary of the Students@Work program, which offers career awareness opportunities in high-demand professions including biotechnology and construction, occupations that are typically known to have a low percentage of female employees. To improve pay inequities, more programs are needed to get young people, including young women, interested in high-growth and high-earning careers.
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