Black Women's Equal Pay Day

September 21, 2022 DOJ GEN

A joint message from DOJABA & DOJ GEN on Black Women's Equal Pay Day.

Today, September 21, 2022, is Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, which marks the amount of time within a calendar year that Black women have to work to earn the same wages as their white male counterparts. In fact, even after controlling for education, location, and years of experience, Black women make only 58 cents on the dollar compared to white, non-Hispanic men. For those DOJABA members who were unable to join the Racial Justice Roundtable Series session on Monday entitled Pay Equity for Black Attorneys at DOJ and Beyond: An Intersectional Analysis, you missed a deeply engaging discussion of the racial and gender wage gap, what this issue means for DOJ attorneys and staff and our families and communities, and an overview of the work and advocacy of DOJ GEN and DOJABA on pay parity at DOJ. DOJABA’s Community Action Committee was honored to host for this important discussion with DOJ GEN Board Member Lindsay Dunn, CRT-ELS attorney Kate Lawrence, and Gaylynn Burroughs, Director of Workplace Equality & Senior Counsel for the National Women’s Law Center, with a thoughtful introduction by CAC Co-Chair, Imani Hutty, and moderated by CAC Co-Chair, Linda Seabrook.

DOJABA and DOJ GEN is sending out this joint message to our members today in order to highlight this issue and encourage dialogue and collective action to promote pay equity at DOJ, and eradicate workplace actions that can have a discriminatory impact on pay and promotions like gendered or racialized assumptions around case assignments or work product, lack of mentorship and professional development for BIPOC staff, the “motherhood penalty,” and gendered workplace collateral assignments (such as party planning or taking notes). We call on male allies especially to call out these actions when witnessed or experienced, because when you see something, and say something, that lifts and empowers us all and brings about change.

To read more about the racial and gender wage gap and its consequences, we share the following:

And DOJ GEN’s efforts to convince DOJ and OPM to stop using salary history during the hiring and pay-setting processes recently received some exciting coverage from the Federal News Network .

DOJABA members who would like to become involved in advocacy for pay parity at the Department should reach out to Davené Walker, and DOJ GEN members who would like to work on this issue should reach out to Lindsay Dunn; both are cc’d.

In collective support and fellowship –

DOJABA Executive Council DOJ GEN Executive Board