A new report shows that the wage gap between men and women in Boston is substantial. On average, women in the Greater Boston area make 70 cents for every dollar a white man makes. It has been reported that this is the largest gap since the previous analysis since 2017. The 2017 study found that women in the Greater Boston area earn 76 cents per every dollar men earn. When stratified, the situation is significantly worse for black and Latina women.
The study, done by the Bostons Women’s Workforce Council, shows that Latina women in the Greater Boston area earn 45 cents for every dollar a white man earns. Black women earn 49 cents for every dollar a white man earns. White women earn 70 cents for every dollar white men earn, and Asian women earn 67 cents for every dollar white men earn.
Tania Del Rio, the executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement told wbur.org that, “What we do is just take a snapshot to see where we are at that point in time with the contributors that we had.”
Del Rio added that “We’re looking to grow the size of the data set because the more employers we have involved in this effort, the better off women are going to be.”
The information from this study came from 2019 wage data for 136,437 employees, which is about 13 percent of Boston’s workforce. The data comes from 123 companies in the area.
The analysis also showed that the gender pay gap did vary per job. The highest gap being service workers, where women earned 45 cents per a man’s dollar. The second-highest gap is female executives who earn 70 cents per a man’s dollar.
However, when it comes to administrative roles, women are actually out-earning men. They are earning 2 cents more on the dollar than men.
To help combat the wage gap, the city is supporting specific legislation and offering free salary negotiation workshops. The state is also offering salary negotiation classes as well.
