Rally outside City Hall calls for New York to close wage gap on Equal Pay Day
LOWER MANHATTAN (WABC) -- A rally was held at City Hall in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday in honor of Equal Pay Day.
Organizers say the rally symbolized how long women must work into the current year to earn what men earned the year prior. This year's rally took place 40 days sooner than it did 20 years ago.
Attorney General Letitia James, Mayor Eric Adams and other city leaders stood on the steps with organizers from CWA Local 1180 and PowHer New York.
New York has the third smallest wage gap in the U.S., but those at the rally said there is plenty of work to be done.
According to the organizers, New York women have a 12% pay gap. Women who work full time earn 88 cents to every dollar a full-time working man earns.
"A lot of the agencies have more men making higher salaries than the women in those agencies, even though they may have the same title," said Gloria Middleton, President of CWA Local 1180. "And that's what we have to fix. And if we work with the City Council to work out a plan that we can have those agencies self-correct, look at their statistics and see how they can uplift these women."
The gap is even larger for Asian, African American, Hispanic and Native women.
Organizers say New York's new salary range disclosure law is a step in the right direction, but believe more can be done.
"So what are we telling women of color in our city, when we're saying you're not worth that same dollar their male counterpart is worth, what happens when we take a dollar out of a woman's pocket? We are taking a dollar away from their children, from their families, from their communities, and in my book that's called economic injustice," said NYC Councilwoman Carmen De La Rosa. "And we know that we cannot stay silent in the face of injustice."
Tuesday marked the 18th annual rally. And while it's great to see support and progress, organizers say they hope they don't have to be there next year talking about the same issues.
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