Equal Pay Day fell on Tuesday of this week, March 25, 2025. We observe Equal Pay Day each year as the date upon which women make the same amount of money as men made in the prior calendar year. So, for men and women doing the same job, if men made an average of $100 in calendar year 2024, then it took women on an average until March 25, 2025 to make the same amount of money.
The observance of Equal Pay Day is something to raise your awareness but not to celebrate. After all, giving up what amounts to about three months of equitable pay sucks, right? Celebration will come when Equal Pay Day is observed on January 1 of each year.
Put in perpective, Above the Law reports that, “According to 2024 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, women earned just 84 cents for every dollar earned by men when looking at median hourly wages for full- and part-time workers. That’s only a modest improvement from 82 cents in 2023.”
But, you may think that this pay disparity does not apply to women lawyers. However, an article on Bloomberg reprinted this week on Above the Law identifies the legal industry in the US as one of five industries where unequal pay is very much alive. Additionally, the latest US census data demonstrates that women in male-dominated fields like law can lose as much as $1M over a career because of pay disparity, with those statistics being worse for women lawyers who also are mothers.
Most sources recognize that some of the pay disparity is the result of differences in education, job experience or occupational choices. However, in the case of women lawyers, it cannot be denied that other contributing factors are gender discrimination, limited leadership opportunities, and what has been identified as the “motherhood penalty” in the law as lawyer/mothers juggle caretaking responsibilities with professional responsibilities.
So, what does that mean to you? Simply stated, it means that you must advocate for yourself to achieve the pay equity you deserve. You never should be too busy billing hours to pay attention to your compensation. The fortunate among you may have other advocates like colleagues, mentors and sponsors, but you need to be the most convincing voice in the room when it comes to issues of your own compensation. The work you do is challenging and hard and very time consuming, and you deserve to be paid equally with your male colleagues who are performing comparable jobs.
Unfortunately, we know that pay equity will not happen overnight. And it will take all of us working together to make it happen sooner rather than later —- or at all. Start by advocating for yourself and then as member of a larger advocacy group. Every voice counts.
