Below is a story from PowHerNY’s newest effort Brecha Salarial Nueva York. We invite you to speak out this Latina Equal Pay Day on October 15, 2015 by sharing how the wage gap has affected you and how you think we could close the 46 cent wage gap between Latina women and white males in New York State.

To submit your answers go to our submission form or email Abby Grimshaw at abby@powherny.org.

The following story was submitted by Wendy Amengual Wark, VP of PowHerNY and founder of Inclusion Strategy.

Starting out at a lower rate than my white, male counterparts has impacted my earning power throughout my career.  When I was in my twenties, I supervised several people for a proxy processing firm on Wall Street, including an old army buddy of my boss.  One day I was in the Payroll office and looked down to see this person’s salary information.  He was making almost 50% more than me! In other words, for every $100. that I was paid, he was paid $150.!  I was livid! I marched into my boss’ office and demanded a raise. His response:  “Wendy, Dick has a family to support, I cannot justify paying you that much money.”  I quit the job on the spot.  I think about that 46 cents on the dollar, $46. for every $100. that I could have used for tuition (I was going to school at night), rent, food, clothes, and maybe even a vacation! I was always lagging behind my white, male colleagues because they have always made at least 46 cents more than me.  

What can be done to close the 46cent wage gap experienced by Latinas in NY?

We can insist that legislation be passed guaranteeing both true equal pay for equal work (watch those sliding pay scales), and salary transparency so that everyone knows what everyone is being paid for the work that they provide, including bonuses, raises, and benefits.