Using Data to #HackThePayGap

Much has been done for women and girls in the US, but there’s still plenty to do. In partnership with the

White House’s United State of Women Summit, the Presidential Innovation Fellows, and the Department of Commerce, #hackthepaygap is a nationwide hackathon that will bring together developers, companies, and advocates to tackle one of the most important issues facing women today: the gender pay gap.

We’ve all heard the statistics and yet, frustratingly, these issues still persist.

• Women are paid just 79 cents for every dollar a man is paid

• For women of color it’s even worse: 60 and 55 cents for African American and Latina women, respectively

• Women are overrepresented in the lowest wage professions

• Motherhood is associated with a wage penalty and lower future career earnings

Call to Action: How might we #hackthepaygap?

#hackthepaygap is not your typical hackathon — we want everyone to tackle this important issue.

Supported with primary data from MIDAAS that gives the public the ability to explore income data, #Hackthepaygap is calling on teams of developers, designers, subject-matter experts, and advocates to develop open source, innovative solutions to hack the pay gap. Additionally, we are calling on companies and women to take action and make commitments, and then to share via social media.

• We challenge developers and designers to #hackthepaygap by using data to build tools and visualizations for women and the broader public

• We challenge companies to #hackthepaygap by committing to look for pay gaps within annual company pay data and developing solutions to bridge these gaps that can be shared with broader communities

• We challenge everyone to #hackthepaygap on Equal Pay Day by asking for raises and promotions, negotiating current salaries, and encouraging other women to do the same

Participants are encouraged to share their commitments by using the #hackthepaygap hashtag on Equal Pay Day and invited to attend the #hackthepaygap hackathon to build and demo their products on May 15th, in Washington D.C. at 1776.

A handful of outcomes and commitments will be shared and announced in conjunction with the White House’s United State of Women Summit this May.

This is a re-post of this blog from the Department of Commerce.