(WKZO AM/FM) — Tuesday is equal pay day, the day that women work essentially for free because they earn so much less than men.
The average is currently 80-cents on the dollar, although there are a lot of different numbers out there depending on how you figure it.
Sylvia Charraton with the American Association of University Women says progress has been slow over the last two decades. They have only been able to close the gap by 7-cents.
She says it will take them a century at this rate to bring equity to the pay scale.
The numbers vary by race with Latino women earning just 54-cents compared to the dollar earned by white males, and African American women earn just 63-cents.
The numbers vary from county to county.
While the pay gap is about the national average, 20-cents lower for women in Calhoun, Barry and VanBuren Counties, it is closer to a quarter less in Kalamazoo.
Allegan and Kent Counties are a little below average. There every dollar earned by a man, is matched by only 77-cents for women.
Berrien County has about a 27-cent gap and the county with the largest gender pay gap in West Michigan is Ottawa County, where a woman is likely to earn 71 cents for every dollar earned by a man.
