On the occasion of ‘Equal Pay Day’, Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook Inc. and founder of the non-profit Lean In, launched a campaign called as ‘#20PercentCounts’ and revealed through her Facebook account that on average, women in the US are paid 20% less than men and after breaking the pay gap down by race and ethnicity - black women are paid 37% less and Hispanic women are paid 46% less than white men.  

The campaign on their website leanin.org/equalpay also reveals that Asian women will take 111 years to earn the same as men do. Her Facebook Post says women make up nearly half of the total workforce and they are the primary breadwinners in more than 40% of American households with children—and in many families. Also she adds , women in the United States had to work all of 2016 plus this far into 2017 to catch up to what men earned last year.

Her Facebook Post says women make up nearly half of the total workforce and they are the primary breadwinners in more than 40% of American households with children—and in many families. Also she adds , women in the United States had to work all of 2016 plus this far into 2017 to catch up to what men earned last year.

At the current rate, Lean In says,  that - it will take another 44 years for women to reach equal pay in the U.S. And It will take even longer for women in other parts of the world: 47 years for women in Western Europe, 111 years for women in East Asia and the Pacific and 356 years for women in the Middle East and North Africa. It also showcases that the gender pay gap starts early. As early as 16 years old, women are paid less than men—and the gap only grows from there. 

The situation the website says is worse for women globally as on overage women are paid 46% less than men worldwide. 

A step towards this direction was taken in September last year, on the occasion of Women's Equality Day, when US President Obama announced the list of major US tech companies who signed the ‘White House Equal Pay Pledge’ to bridge the gender pay gap. Prominent tech companies like Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Intel, IBM and others took the pledge.

The big announcement happened at the first-ever United State of Women Summit that encouraged companies across America to take action on advance equal pay.

Equal pay has been the foremost priority for Obama administration since Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first piece of legislation signed by them. The policy was drafted to ensure fair pay for all Americans by narrowing gender pay gap. Also, this will help boost productivity and benefit for businesses in America.

As per IWPR study - The gender wage gap for weekly full-time workers in the United States widened between 2014 and 2015. In 2015, the ratio of women’s to men’s median weekly full-time earnings was 81.1 percent, a decrease of 1.4 percentage points since 2014, when the ratio was 82.5 percent. Women’s median weekly earnings for full-time work were $726 in 2015 compared with $895 for men.