The Wage Gap
Where Unequal Pay Started, and Why It’s Illegal
Did you know that, before 1963, not only was it legal to pay a woman less than a man for equal work, but women were paid only 41% of what a man earned for doing the same job? Think about that. If the average income is $60,000 for a man, a woman who is doing the same job is earning less than $25,000 a year — for the same work.
I’d like to report that pay discrepancy is no longer an issue, especially in churches…but, unfortunately, I can’t. In fact, churches are actually worse offenders than our marketplace counterparts. In America, women earn approximately 80 cents for every dollar a man earns for the same work. For a woman who works in ministry, she earns just 72% of what a man earns for the same job. In fact, National Equal Pay Day is April 4, because that’s how many days into the new year it takes for a woman to work to match what her male counterpart earned last year.
We all come from different backgrounds and theological perspectives that might influence the roles or titles we offer to women on our teams. But when it comes to two people doing the exact same job, we inherently know that it’s not only illegal, but wrong, to pay them differently.
Unfortunately, many of us have inherited human resource systems, and “ways of doing things,” that oftentimes automatically pay women less. In many churches, they are still operating under the practice of paying people based on their life situation, rather than the work, and level of responsibility, they are taking on. For example, let’s say we have two youth directors that serve at different campuses. Their role, title, level of education, and years of experience are exactly the same. However, she is single, while he is married with three kids. It can seem like it is loving and pastoral to pay him more money and insurance benefits than the single woman, but it is quite unfair and illegal.
The key to making a change in this area is having open conversations about our practices, and maintaining the humility to make changes where we need to do so. Where we came from doesn’t have to be where we stay; we can offer male and female leaders equal pay for equal efforts, and set the example for the marketplace to follow.
