September 18th: International Equal Pay Day2 min read
This year marks the first time ever to celebrate International Equal Pay Day.
In fact, starting from 2020 and every September 18th will be celebrated worldwide the longstanding efforts towards the achievement of equal pay for work of equal value.
Equal pay is a fundamental human right. Fill the gender pay gap is another step toward the removal of all forms of discrimination, including the ones against women and girls. Unfortunately, some countries even developed countries still discriminate against women on that.
On average, women are paid 16% less than men. For women of color, immigrant women, and women with children, the gap is even greater.
According to UN Women, the adverse impacts are exacerbated even more by crises. It is estimated that the widespread effects of COVID-19 could push 96 million people into extreme poverty by 2021, bringing the total number of women and girls living on USD 1.90 per day to 435 million.
The SDGs, in order to ensure that no one is left behind, address the need to achieve gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls (SDG 5) and promote decent work and economic growth (SDG 8).
Equal pay is essential not only for women, but to build a world of dignity and justice for all
António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General on Friday’s first-ever equal pay day
Worldwide, the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) supports governments, employers, workers, and their organizations to make concrete and coordinated progress towards the achievement of equal pay for women and men everywhere. By bringing together a diverse set of actors with different areas of focus and expertise, EPIC – led by the ILO, UN Women, and partners – is currently the only multi-stakeholder partnership working to reduce the gender pay gap at the global, regional, and national levels.
You can find everything you need to know about pushing for equal pay here (link)
Source: United Nations – International Equal Pay Day
Featured image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
