Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health
Population Health Research Brief Series
The Cost of Being a Woman: How Race and Education Affect the Gender Pay Gap
Erin Bisesti and Marc A. Garcia
October 2022
Abstract
The gender pay gap in the United States workforce has remained relatively stable over the past few decades despite women having more access to advanced education and higher-pay jobs than in the past. Inequities in earnings have lifetime impacts on
women's mental and physical health. This brief explores pay inequities in 2020 by race/ethnicity, gender, and educational attainment. The authors find that Black and White women would need at least one additional education degree to earn as much as less educated men, and Latinx women would need two additional degrees to earn as much as less educated Latinx men. The authors call for policies to expand access to affordable childcare, and require employers to provide paid family leave to promote equal pay for men and women.