About Equal Pay Day
Equal Pay Day symbolically marks the day until which women work for free, while men have been paid for their work since 1 January. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the gender pay gap in Germany is currently 18 percent. This translates into 66 days (18 percent of 365 days) – so the next Equal Pay Day falls on 07 March 2022.The Equal Pay Day was held for the first time in Germany in 2008 on the initiative of Business and Professional Women (BPW) Germany e.V. and has since been financially supported by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.
The day for equal pay was created in the USA. In 1988, the American Business and Professional Women created a symbol for the red numbers in women's wallets with the Red Purse Campaign. The BPW Germany took up this idea, so that the red bags became a symbol of Equal Pay Day nationwide. It is the merit of the many years of campaign work around the day of action that today the causes of the gender pay gap are being discussed broadly and publicly.
In 2007, Ishinay Kemmler, a management consultant (BPW Frankfurt), brought the idea of an Equal Pay Day to Germany. Dr. Bettina Schleicher, lawyer and President of BPW Germany, launched the Rote Tasche initiative in 2007, the cornerstone for the nationwide introduction of Equal Pay Day.
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