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.

Janice Brown is the President of AAUW-NYS.

There is much to be said about the lack of equal pay and black women, a phenomenon of great concern. Black women are paid on average 63 cents less, as compared to non-Hispanic white men. As we continue to fight for pay equity, let’s not forget the struggles of black women. We cannot leave out the pay disparity amongst the races in women, when pay is at the foundation of all issues. Regardless of whether we are talking about leadership roles, career choices or student loan debt, black women are at or near the bottom and the pay gap is a root cause.

I remember speaking to my mom and grandmother when I was a young girl about working and compensation. They both told me then (over 40 years ago) that black women will always be the lowest paid in the workforce. I couldn’t understand then and still struggle to understand today how this is even possible. My grandmother’s one simple statement rings in my head, “we are not valued”. While black women are some of the most highly educated people in the country, we are among the least valued human beings in America. Although my mother and grandmother stressed and encouraged education, they still warned me that regardless of my educational accomplishments, I and other black women are and will continue to be undervalued. As I have immersed myself into the workforce over the years, what they told me stays with me. For that such reason, I have always tried to negotiate my salary; sometimes successful and sometimes unsuccessful, so that I am trying to break a statistic and change the conversation about being a black woman and undervalued.
AAUW-NYS supports African American women equal pay because the time is now for all women to have equal pay.