Skip to main content
State Seal State Seal State Seal
Home Button Home Button Home Button
 
 
 

Reps. Howse and Miranda recognize Black Women's Equal Pay Day

Call for action on Ohio Equal Pay Act
August 3, 2021
Jessica E. Miranda News

COLUMBUS – State Reps. Stephanie Howse (D-Cleveland) and Jessica E. Miranda (D-Forest Park) issued a statement today recognizing Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, the day when Black women’s pay catches up to that of non-Hispanic, white men from the previous year. Black women earn on average just 63 cents for every $1 a white man makes. 

“Historically, Black employees have faced discrimination in the U.S. workforce, even as they helped build America and provided the foundations for its economy,” said Rep. Howse. “As Ohioans recover from the pandemic, we cannot continue to allow Black women to be paid 63 cents on the dollar. We have waited long enough, and it’s time that elected officials on both sides of the aisle support legislation that addresses our long underinvestment in economic and social infrastructure and the inadequate workplace protections that left Black women stranded at the intersection of racial and gender inequities laid out by COVID-19. It is time to pay Black women what they are owed.”

On March 24 2021, Reps. Howse and Miranda re-introduced the Ohio Equal Pay Act. The bill would require employers to provide equal pay and opportunity in the workplace regardless of gender, encourage transparency in the workplace and empower employees to negotiate for the earnings they deserve.

“The gender pay gap is unacceptable, and it is long overdue that we addressed this inequality,” said Rep. Miranda. “Ohio can’t truly be a business and worker friendly state until there is equal opportunity and dignity afforded to all working Ohioans.”

For more information, visit http://www.equalpaytoday.org.