By Alicia Kimi, NCJW Legislative Intern

For me and my husband, $11,000 would be a tremendous help. I am a recent law school graduate and barred attorney in Massachusetts with my DC bar pending. Shortly after I passed the bar, my husband, an auditor, was offered a position in Washington, DC. We made the decision to move even though I had not secured a job in the area. Although I am currently volunteering, my job search continues, and the thought of being denied equal pay because of my gender in 2013 is almost impossible to comprehend.

President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law almost 50 years ago in an attempt to abolish wage discrimination based on gender. Today, however, women still make an average of 77 cents for every dollar a man makes, totaling around $11,000 in lost wages every year — a loss based on nothing more than an individual’s gender. 

This gap affects women from all education levels. According to the National Women’s Law Center, in 2011 women with educational backgrounds ranging from a high school diploma to a bachelor’s degree still only made around 74 cents for every dollar paid to her male counterpart.

Furthermore, this gap doesn’t just impact women individually; it affects our families, too. Although it is a purely theoretical question for me right now, an additional $11,000 each year would mean a chance to work towards a better future. That sum averages out to around $900 a month, or around $450 every two weeks — money that for me could go towards school loans and a future nest egg, both critical for my family’s economic security. The expenses of four years of college and three years of law school add up! With the strain of student loans and other everyday expenses like rent, utilities, car payments, and groceries, my husband and I struggle to spend as little as possible elsewhere. The impact that $11,000 would have on my family and other families is certainly enormous.

In today’s lagging economy, women and their families need the flexibility to accumulate savings so they can plan and prepare for the future. Most of the people I graduated from law school with are struggling in similar situations all over the northeast, looking to find a legal position to assist with their loans as well as covering all of their other bills. For female law school graduates, a disparity in pay affects our futures just as it does for those from all educational backgrounds. 

Lower wages and unequal pay for women, regardless of our qualifications and experience, is harmful to women, their families, and the economy.

It is well past time to close this gap. Get involved, make a difference, urge your representatives to support the Paycheck Fairness Act, and work towards a brighter future where compensation is based on an individual’s hard work — not his or her gender.

This blog was part of the Blog for Equal Pay Day Carnival, hosted by the National Women’s Law Center. See the other entries at NWLC.org.