'You never catch up.' Why the gender pay gap is so much worse for caregivers

USA Today

25-03-2025

'You never catch up.' Why the gender pay gap is so much worse for caregivers
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These states are boosting their minimum wage requirement in 2025
Here's which states are boosting their minimum wage in 2025. (Scripps News)
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The gender pay gap in the U.S. has remained largely unchanged for the past two decades, with women earning approximately 83 cents for every dollar earned by men.
This disparity in earnings translates to significant financial losses for women, who miss out on an average of over $14,000 annually compared to their male counterparts.
While policies like paid parental leave and pay transparency laws aim to address the wage gap, experts believe a cultural shift is necessary to truly achieve pay equity.
In 2023, the average woman working full time made a little more than $55,000 while the average man working full time made nearly $67,000. That wage gap of 83 cents to the dollar, according to data in the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, has barely budged since 2003 – and it's even widened slightly.
Among all workers, including part-time employees, women were typically paid 75 cents for every dollar a man made in 2023, meaning the average woman missed out on more than $14,000 compared to men.
That money could pay for more than a year of child care, nearly a year and a half of groceries or 10 months of rent, according to a report from the National Partnership for Women & Families. Altogether, the report says women employed in the U.S. lose a combined total of nearly $1.7 trillion each year due to the wage gap.
'We had been, at least, making a little bit of progress,' Gloria Blackwell, CEO of the American Association of University Women, said. 'And now we're going backwards.'
The gender pay gap has stayed mostly stagnant for two decades and even widened slightly from 2022 to 2023. The gap is much worse for women of color and widens as women age, in large part because women's caregiving duties expand with age, too, as they become mothers and take care of their parents, spouses and other family members. As the Trump administration continues to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, advocates are worried that the little progress that has been made to eliminate the wage gap is at risk.
Erin Ryan, a mother in Columbus, Ohio, worked for an early childhood education advocacy group in 2022, before she got pregnant. The nonprofit, Groundwork Ohio, didn't have a paid parental leave policy at the time, even though that's an issue the organization advocates for at the state level. That's pretty common for small nonprofit agencies, said Ruth Thomas, pay equity strategist at Payscale, a compensation data, services and software company.
Ryan said she thought she and her coworkers could 'fix it from the inside,' but when her colleagues sent a letter to the leadership team outlining the merits of a paid parental leave policy, Ryan said it was 'completely shot down.'
Groundwork confirmed that it has since established a paid parental leave policy, in September 2024, but declined to comment further.
When Ryan became pregnant, she cobbled together seven weeks of unpaid leave and about five weeks of accrued paid time off to spend with her newborn daughter. She recognizes her time away from work was a luxury she could afford because her husband was still working, but the nearly $10,000 she missed out on while on leave still hit her family hard.
When she returned to work, and before Groundwork had established an internal paid parental leave policy, Ryan said she was asked to lead an effort advocating for paid family leave.
'That was my breaking point,' she said.
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The gender wage gap is typically slimmest when women first enter the workforce, right out of high school or college. That's because entry-level positions tend to have smaller salary ranges to begin with. But over time, women are more likely to take breaks from their careers to care for their families, and less likely to get promoted at work. That's true across industries and regardless of educational background, said Jocelyn Frye, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families.
When a woman stops working to care for her family, "it's very hard to catch up on the wage gains that your peers have made," Ariane Hegewisch, senior research fellow at the Institute for Women's Policy Research, said. And since pay raises are typically percentage based, those losses compound over time. "You never catch up."
The rise of remote work made it easier for women to continue working while caring for their families, so they didn't get frozen at a lower salary, Hegewisch said. But remote work has not brought women pay equity. In fact, a study recently released by Payscale found the wage gap is wider for women who work from home.
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Thomas said a lack of caregiving resources like paid parental leave, affordable child care and elder care lead many women to compromise higher pay and career progression for flexibility, like a work-from-home benefit.
But not everyone can work from home, and the pandemic was particularly hard on women of color who were already making less than white women. When COVID-19 shut down restaurants and stores, low-paying jobs in the food, service and retail industries went with them, largely impacting Black and Hispanic women, Hegewisch said. The pandemic even made the wage gap look a little better for a while, she said, when the lowest-paying jobs disappeared.
Equal pay for equal work is just part of the battle, she said. The country has seen far less progress in giving women − particularly women of color − opportunities to rise to higher-paying jobs.
A growing number of states adopt policies to improve pay equity
Several states have passed laws that aim to help even the playing field for women in the workforce. Mandatory paid parental leave policies − which exist in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington − allow women like Ryan to spend time with their newborns without added financial stress, and without losing their place in their career entirely.
Pay transparency laws − which exist in California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington and in some municipalities − require employers to outline salary ranges in job postings.
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 sets a national precedent for equal pay for equal work, too, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission oversees workplace discrimination complaints.
'But enforcement of these laws is always a challenge,' Blackwell said.
Now, with mass cuts to federal agencies under the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, it may become even more challenging. Blackwell and other advocates are worried the current administration doesn't have the bandwidth − or desire − to keep tabs on pay equity progress and enforcement.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
'I think it's deeply troubling and problematic," Frye said. 'It sends a terrible message, and it's devastating."
Closing the gender wage gap helps everyone, not just women
Still, there are pockets of hope, Frye said. Individual companies like Costco are rejecting conservative pushes to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. And more states are pushing for paid parental leave and pay transparency policies.
It's important to invest in women and policies that help women, Frye said, 'not just because it's nice, but really because they're integral to the economic stability of our families and also the economic vitality of our country.'
The reality is, fair pay is good for both workers and employers, Thomas said. Research shows people who believe they are paid fairly stay where they are. And retention issues can be costly.
Policy changes and caregiving resources will help women in the short term. But the way forward for pay equity will require a cultural shift, advocates say, away from accepting that caregiving responsibilities are reserved for women and should go unpaid.
'We need to spread out the care work,' Hegewisch said, 'and hopefully make sure that it's less penalized.'
After three weeks back to work after her maternity leave, Ryan quit her job with Groundwork Ohio. She didn't have anything else lined up and took a significant financial hit. Without a full-time job, she couldn't afford full-time child care.
Now, Ryan and her husband hire a nanny part time. Ryan works part time as a consultant, from home, and is starting to see paychecks that resemble where she was before becoming a mom.
She doesn't regret the time she took off, though. She wasn't ready to return to work just a couple of weeks after giving birth. And she wanted to devote herself fully to her daughter in those first precious weeks.
'It was time that you never get back,' she said.
Madeline Mitchell's role covering women and the caregiving economy at USA TODAY is funded by a grant from Pivotal Ventures. Pivotal Ventures does not provide editorial input. Reach Madeline at [e-mail] and @maddiemitch on X.