It’s hard to believe that in 2023 there’s still no law requiring that men and women be paid equal wages for equal work. According to the U.S. Department of labor, the average American woman has to work 15 months to earn the same amount a man earns in a year.
Women who work full-time are paid about 83.7% of a man’s salary, resulting in a $10,000 difference per year — a gap that only widens for women of color and women with disabilities.
For nonbinary individuals and other members of the LGBTQ+ community, data isn’t as robust. One study from the Ohio State University found that transgender and nonbinary students reported higher average financial strain and were more likely to have student loans than cisgender students.
With gaps this stark, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there’s also a difference in how much debt each gender has.