September 8 is Mothers' Equal Pay Day, a day that's 'not a cause for celebration' as the wage gap between mothers and fathers persists

• September 8 is this year's Mothers' Equal Pay Day.
• It would take a mom working from the start of 2021 through today to earn as much as a dad did last year alone.

September 8 marks this year's Mothers' Equal Pay Day.

Mothers who work make just 58 cents for every dollar working fathers make, according to the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and a fact sheet from the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) that uses 2020 data. That means that it would take a mom working from the start of 2021 through September 8, 2022 to earn as much as a dad did last year alone.

Ruth Martin, senior vice president and chief workplace justice officer at MomsRising, told Insider that Mothers' Equal Pay Day "is not a cause for celebration in any shape, form, or fashion." The day highlights the ongoing wage gap between mothers and fathers.

"Even before the COVID-19 crisis, mothers were losing thousands of dollars annually due to the wage gap, with Black, Latina, and Native American mothers suffering from the largest gaps," Jasmine Tucker, director of research at the National Women's Law Center, wrote in the fact sheet. "Couple that with the economic crisis moms and their families are still facing and mothers have been put between a rock and a hard place."

As AAUW notes, equal pay day has previously been estimated based on how much full-time, year-round workers make, but a new methodology this year includes other workers, such as part-time workers.

Emily Martin, vice president for education and workplace justice at the NWLC, told Insider this change actually "makes a lot of sense if you're thinking about moms in particular since often working less than full time, less than year round is really connected to motherhood. It's one of the reasons why moms make less money."

Full-time, year-round working moms in 2020 earned 74 cents for every dollar similarly-employed fathers make, according to NWLC. That means these moms are seeing an annual loss of $17,000.

"$17,000 is a year of childcare or more. It is an incredible amount for a family," Martin of NWLC said. "And so when moms are short-changed in this way, that has impacts on not just their paycheck, but their entire family's stability and livelihood."

She added that that has "been especially clear over the past couple years during the economic disruptions of the pandemic." Some moms had to leave the labor force as they dealt with virtual learning and more childcare responsibilities when places were shuttered during the pandemic. Martin of MomsRising added that moms often had to leave the labor force as schools closed during the pandemic. And child day care services are still understaffed, with employment in the industry 8.4% below its February 2020 level.

More family-friendly policies could help close the wage gap

Martin of NWLC said one thing that can be done to level the wage gap between moms and dads is having access to paid sick days and paid medical leave benefits. Affordable childcare would also be beneficial, she added.

"Strengthening pay discrimination laws is also an important piece," Martin of NWLC added. "Some of the wage gap is driven by the fact that employers still consciously or not have stereotypes that mothers are less confident and less committed at work."

Martin of MomsRising added passing the Paycheck Fairness Act would also help close the wage gap seen in the US. She said the Paycheck Fairness Act includes helping "prevent employers from relying on past salary history" for new workers as well as "helps increase wage transparency."

"While we're focused on the gender wage gap, and certainly today the mom wage gap, passing these policies and doing what we can to close that wage gap does not benefit just moms," Martin of MomsRising said. "It actually helps all of us in this country."

She said it helps in multiple ways: keeping people in the labor force, "keep those consumer-driven dollars in our economy," and there's a "huge public health benefit to passing a better care infrastructure."