Between events such as The Women’s March on Washington, and the recent highly celebrated International Women’s Day, one of the most prominent causes for the protests is the gender wage gap. The reality is women in every state experience the wage gap; some worse than others depending on their career field and locality. The pay gap does not seem likely to reach equality anytime soon. In fact, analysts say that change seems to be coming so slowly that women will reach equal pay with men in the year 2059. It’ll even be harder for women of color to reach pay equality according to The American Association of University Women, as Hispanic women will have to wait until 2248 and black women will wait until 2124 for equal pay.

In this modern era, it is sometimes difficult to see that these inequalities still exist, seeing how we are currently seeing drastic changes all throughout America between our political leaders and the people of our country standing up for their rights. However, this is a major problem many American women are facing. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research states that in 2015 for ever dollar that a man made, a woman made eighty cents of it. “The 79.6 percent wage ratio figure, the most commonly used figure to measure the gender wage gap in the United States, is often derided as misleading, a myth, or worst of all, a lie,” states the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. “Just because the explanation of the gender wage gap is multi-faceted does not make it a lie.”

Women are the sole or co-bread winners for families with children in half America. In a country where women are pursuing paths of education even more so than men (this is statistically proven), this wage gap should not exist. It is in the hands of the people, companies, and policy makers to make this change a reality.