Source: Dailykos.com

One of the great contradictions of America is that inequality is still rampant—despite the widespread belief that hard work can overcome any barrier. Women, for example, are still paid less than men and the wage gap for women of color in the workforce is even greater than it is for white women. Monday marked Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, which means it is the day in 2017 that black women would, in theory, have caught up to be paid the same amount of money that white men would have made in 2016. This is why it matters: In order for black women to earn as much as non-Hispanic white men earn in a year, they'd have to work 19 months. That's why Black Women’s Equal Pay Day falls on July 31st: to represent that extra seven months of essentially free labor.