This is a guest post that is part of a series featuring women leaders for Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, which falls on August 7, 2018.

Deborah Martin Owens is the Executive Director, Diversity & Inclusion, New York City Bar Association and the Vice-Chair of the Board, Women’s City Club of New York.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s seminal 1937 novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Nanny, the protagonist’s grandmother and a former slave, famously described the place of black women in society’s socio-economic hierarchy by defiantly stating, “[the black] woman is the mule of the world, as far as I can see.” In Nanny’s world, black women placed fourth after white men, white women and black men.

Unfortunately, with regard to equal pay for black women, Nanny’s statement still holds true. Black women who work year-round make only 63 cents for every dollar earned by white (non-Hispanic) men. The more education that black women obtain does not automatically mean that the wage gap closes. In fact, black women who earn a bachelor’s degree can still make less than a white man with only a high school diploma. Black women would have to work an additional 19 months in order to make in salary what their white male counterparts made the previous 12 months. It will take a black woman an additional 20 years to make what a white man makes at the time of his retirement at age 63. The pay inequity for black women leads to their inability to join the middle class and lost benefits of hundreds of thousands of dollars over their lifetimes.

In May of last year, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio signed a law that prohibits employers from requesting the salary history of prospective employees’.⁶ With passage of this law, black women will able to negotiate their salaries with prospective New York City employers from a place of power. No longer will their salary histories follow them from job to job, subjecting them to a lifetime of low wages, unequal pay and, in many cases, poverty. If enacted federally, black women across the nation would be in a better position to negotiate and receive a competitive salary that would be based on their relevant work experience, skill set and talent. Today, August 7, 2018 is Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, and here are a few suggestions that organizations and companies can take to close the pay gap for black women:

1. Employers should be encouraged to conduct a thorough review of compensation to determine
   if all are being compensated equally for performing the same job functions/titles. Equal pay for
   equal work.
2. At the hiring level, have an open conversation about salaries. Too often prospective employees
   cannot determine the salary ranges for a particular position and, therefore, often do not negotiate
   effectively (another pitfall all too common for women) and end up making significantly less than
   their white male counterparts.
3. Conduct yearly trainings and workshops on how managers can better address pay equity gaps.
4. White men in management should mentor and support black women in their respective departments. We need white men to be a support and an ally in our careers. Their investment in our careers creates a more inclusive environment and makes good business sense.