Equal pay day

With women's history coming to a close, it is important to recognize how far women have come. Equal Pay Day is on Thursday, April 10. This day symbolizes how far women have come in closing the wage gap from men to women's pay.

President Obama made an executive action on Equal Pay Day to strengthen laws for equal pay for women. Eileen Patten wrote an article for Pew Research Center explaining what this issue means.

"Both men and women see a need for moves such as this – 72% of women and 61% of men said “this country needs to continue making changes to give men and women equality in the workplace,” according to a Pew Research Center survey last fall," Patten wrote.

She explains often, women are more likely to take time off in their careers than men. Patten writes that these interruptions are often due to family.  These types of interruptions have impacts on long-term affects pay and earnings.

"Roughly four-in-ten mothers say they have taken a significant amount of time off from work (39%) or reduced their work hours (42%) to care for a child or other family member. Roughly a quarter (27%) say they have quit work altogether to take care of these familial responsibilities," Patten writes.