February is a month that we celebrate black history, but are we aware of the obstacles that really stand in the way of African American women? Not only are black women paid less in the United States but face a lifetime of repercussions because of the gap. Check out six ways you may not have known that African American women are affected by the gap:

1. The numbers do not lie. On average African American women are paid 60 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-hispanic men.
2. New York is failing African American Women. In New York, where the overall wage gap is one of the smallest at 86%, African American women make 66 cents to the dollar. That is especially disturbing because NY is in the top 2 states with the largest population of black women.
3. Higher education does not mean equal pay. Regardless of degree, at every education level, black women still only make between 61 and 66 cents on the dollar to the white male. This means an African-American women would have to attain a Bachelor’s degree to make as much as a male who didn’t finish college.
4. Not all African Americans have access to higher education. Nationally, Black women are more likely to work in the low paying occupations of the service and healthcare industries. This also means Black women are less likely to work in high growth occupations with higher earnings such as managers or in technology and mathematical industries.
5. This does not only affect women, but also their families. Bringing home less in a weekly paycheck from a full-time, year-round job also affects those who Black women support. If the wage gap were to not exist she could provide 169 more weeks of food for her family, 23 more months of rent and 5 more months of mortgage and utilities payments a per year in a full-time job.
6. The wage gap is for a lifetime. After being paid less for a lifetime the wage gap also means that older African American women have to work longer, and do not have the same financial security as they enter retirement. For those who are working full-time and year round between the ages of forty-five and sixty-four, the gap increases to 59 cents on the white, non-hispanic male’s dollar.

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