My youngest daughter and I took time to celebrate Women’s History Month and join MomsRising.org last week.  We met with some amazingly powerful women from the Democratic Women's Caucus to mark Equal Pay Day—the day in the year when the average American woman makes the amount the average American man made in the LAST calendar year.

It took an additional 84 DAYS to reach pay parity this year!  Some facts we learned:

• Women working full time, year round, on average earn 81 cents to every dollar paid to the average man.

• When you include all earners, including part-time and part-year, it drops to 76 cents.

• The gap widens when racial ethnicity and parenthood are taken into account.

• The Paycheck Fairness Act , first introduced in 1970, has passed 4x in the House and failed in the Senate; the last time by only two votes.  Families have been demanding pay parity for over 50 years!

• The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which collects workplace data to ensure workplace fairness, is currently under attack.  If no data is collected, problems cannot be quantified!

Alongside Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Hillary Scholten, Rep. Emilia Strong Sykes, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, & Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, we demanded  EQUAL PAY NOW.  One way to take action is to demand better: action.momsrising.org/sign/EqualPayDay-2026.

Public policy structures that Wonder Women Legislators and MomsRising advocates propose to help solve the gender wage gap include

• Building a care economy with affordable childcare, paid family/medical leave, and earned sick days.

• Urging legislators to protect the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which collects data and helps to ensure workplace fairness by identifying pay disparities, encouraging employer accountability,and informing the public.  

• Continuing the work to advance and sign equal pay laws.  

• Getting out the vote to elect leaders who advance equal rights, equal pay, and public policy to positively impact families’ quality of life.

After we worked to advance opportunities for women, my littlest and I did what we love best—exploring plants, flowers, and the amazing achievements of botanists at the Smithsonian Botanic Gardens. Notably absent this year?  Displays celebrating the accomplishments of celebrated female botanists.  Not to worry though–we made sure to make up for it by…

• Learning about different types of plants and seeds, https://pbskids.org/videos/watch/elinor-wonders-why-full-episodes/138583....

• Starting our own seed growth observation project, to encourage curiosity, discovery, and a love of plants, https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/plant-journal-activity/elinor-wonders-why/

• Checking out Mary Wissinger’s Women in Botany from our local library.

• And gathering information from past Smithsonian webpages, https://gardens.si.edu/exhibitions/orchids-hidden-stories-of-groundbreak....

At the end of the day, as we put dishes in the sink, books on the shelf, and ready ourselves for what tomorrow will bring, I just want what every parent wants: a world in which all my children, regardless of their gender, may grow, learn, play, develop their interests and talents, and find their place, purposefully and equitably.

To take further action yourself,

• Sign this equal pay petition. https://action.momsrising.org/sign/EqualPayDay-2026.

• Check your voter registration, https://action.momsrising.org/signup/check_registration_R2V/ and start researching which candidates support public policy improving family life.

• Urge leaders to vote NO on the SAVE Act, so women around the nation may equitably vote this year, https://action.momsrising.org/sign/TheSaveAct-Senate.