Gender Wealth Inequality In U.S | Political Report Cards

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GENDER WEALTH INEQUALITY IN U.S.

Throughout the U.S. workforce, women remain vastly underpaid. Institute for Policy Studies analysis of U.S. Census Bureau Data finds that among full-time workers, women earned an average of 83 cents for every dollar a man earned in 2021, up from 76 cents in 2001. The narrowing of the pay gap has slowed in the past two decades compared to earlier decades when women were joining the workforce in large numbers. If part-time workers were included in these calculations, the gap would be even wider, since women are more likely to work reduced schedules, often in order to manage childbearing and other caregiving work.

The gender poverty gap has not improved significantly over the past half decade. In 1966, 12.1 percent of women and 8.4 percent of men aged 18-64 lived below the official poverty line. In 2021, 11.7 percent of women in this age group were living in poverty, compared to 9.3 percent of men. In 2021, the poverty threshold for a single person was $12,880 in annual income. Households led by single women with children faced poverty rates of 31.3 percent that year, more than double the 15.5 percent poverty rate for households led by single men with children, according to the National Women’s Law Center.