Notable Santa Fe business owner Kimberly deCastro leads operations at the IT firm Wildflower International, Ltd., the largest woman-owned business in New Mexico. For the past two decades, Kimberly deCastro has also been a champion of promoting workplace equality and reducing gender-based disparities in promotion opportunities and pay.
To highlight gender-based salary inequalities, the National Committee on Pay Equity publicly branded April 2 as Equal Pay Day. The date represents the extra weeks of full-time work a woman needs to complete to earn an income equivalent to the amount a man earns in one calendar year. The wage gap is even more profound for women of color.
In the 23 years since the first Equal Pay Day, marked improvements toward gender-pay equality have occurred. Many companies have put transparency policies into place that allow employees and job candidates to have clear benchmarks for salary expectations.
Further, several states have passed laws that reduce gender-based pay gaps. Notably, New Jersey and Minnesota now require all companies to record wage gap data.
