NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 03: First lady Michelle Obama is presented with an honorary doctorate of humane letters by James Milliken, the chancellor for the City University of New York , while delivering the commencement speech at City College on June 3, 2016 in New York City. This is the final commencement speech of her tenure as first lady. In her speech Mrs. Obama celebrated City College's diverse student body and the struggles that many students endured on the road to graduation.
Some of the best news has been floating around in the past week, and today is no different. A new report states that black women are now the most educated group in the United States, however it is not as impressive when conversations of pay equity are brought into the discussion.
The National Center for Education Statistics stated that between 2009 and 2010, black women received 68 percent of all associate degrees given to black students, 66 percent of bachelor’s degrees, 71 percent of master’s degrees, and 65 percent of all doctorates awarded to black students. That same report said that the percentage of black college students in the United States rose from 10 to 15 percent between the years of 1976 and 2012, while the percentage of white students in all U.S. colleges fell from 84 to 60 percent.
If we were to categorize by race and gender, there is a higher percentage of black women who are enrolled in college than other racial group. 9.7 percent of black women are enrolled, while Asian women (8.7 percent), white women (7.1 percent), and white men (6.1 percent) trail behind them.
While this news seems to be trendsetting and advocating for a different conversation within the black community, there seems to be an issue with the racial and gender make up of private sector jobs. Black women only make up 8 percent of private sector jobs, and less than two percent of leadership roles.
As of 2013, black women made 64 cents to the white man’s dollar, while white women earned 78 cents, black men earned 75 centers, Hispanic men earned 67 cents, and Hispanic women earned 54 cents.
The National Committee on Pay Equity’s research predicts that white women will not get equal pay until 2059, but since they are ahead of black and Hispanic men and women, where do that leave us?