Statement from Joe Biden on Black Women’s Equal Pay Day

Black Women’s Equal Pay Day marks an unconscionable reality: it takes a Black woman nearly 20 months to earn what a white man made in one year for the same work. Over the course of their lives, it’s impossible for Black women to ever really catch up.

There are workplace practices that make it impossible for a server working double shifts at $2.13/hour and living off tips to ever earn a stable living wage. There is flatout discrimination that denies her the promotion she has clearly earned and deserves. There are workplace cultures full of daily slights and biases that make others feel comfortable questioning whether she’s good enough to be hired.

And, then there are four years of Donald Trump’s assault on worker rights and his massive failure over the last six months to manage the pandemic and economic freefall that has hit Black families the hardest.

Today is a day to raise awareness of how far we are from the full promise of America for all Americans. But it’s also a day to remember we are less than three months away from an election where we can do something about it.

In a Joe Biden-Kamala Harris Administration, Black women’s equal pay will be a top priority, not just an afterthought. We will contain the virus and get people back to work, school, and their everyday lives. We will get them the support they need to come back from the edge. And, we will build back better with an economy that advances racial equity and breaks down barriers that have left so many women, especially Black women, unseen, underpaid, and undervalued. We will champion Black women. We will move closer to equal pay — by holding employers accountable, making wage gaps more transparent, banning salary history to set future wages, and easing the ability for workers to organize and bargain collectively.

We will build back better because Black women are the backbones of their families, communities, our economy, and our country. And we will ensure they earn the pay, and the dignity and respect they deserve.