U.S. Department of Labor Blog
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which was signed into law by President Obama on January 29, 2009, amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and is the most recent fair pay legislation to be signed at the federal level. To mark the anniversary and to honor the trailblazing Ledbetter, who passed away in October 2024, we’re taking a look at what’s happened to the gender pay gap and other metrics of women’s status in the workforce since 2009.
How has the gender pay gap changed overall?
The gender wage gap has shrunk, but progress has been slow
The gender pay gap decreased by 7 percentage points from 2009 (when it was 23%) to 2022 (16%) before rising slightly in 2023 (to 17.3%). Put another way, in 2009 women who worked full-time, year-round made 77.0% of comparable men. In 2022, they made 84.0%, and in 2023, they made 82.7%.
Has there been progress on pay equity in high-profile professions?
Women in professional sports:
2024 marked the first Olympics where Team USA women were guaranteed equal pay, and in 2022, the U.S. Soccer Federation agreed to pay the U.S. Women’s National Team equal wages to the U.S. Men’s National Team. In 2023, the Women’s Tennis Association announced plans for achieving pay equity at all tennis tournaments by 2033. This year, the rise of basketball phenom and number one WNBA draft pick Caitlin Clark led to a public outcry when her $76,535 first-year salary in the WNBA was compared to the $12.1 million first-year salary for the number one draft pick in the NBA.
Women in film:
Since 2009 there has been significant attention to the gender pay disparity for Hollywood actors and a number of individual efforts to advocate for pay equity, but there is no evidence of collective progress. That said, women’s economic power may be on the rise: Barbie was the highest-grossing film of 2023, making $1.45 billion worldwide in total.
How has women’s labor force participation fared?
Overall, women now constitute a smaller share of the labor force (46.9%) than in 2009 (47.3%) in 2009. However, their share in some previously male-dominated sectors continues to rise.
| 2009 | 2023 | |
| % women in total civilian labor force | 47.3% | 46.9% |
| % women in construction and extraction occupations | 2.6% | 4.3% |
| % women in life, physical and social science occupations | 46.8% | 49.8% |
| % women in computer and mathematical occupations | 24.8% | 26.9% |
Of note, certain segments of women did see growth in labor force participation. This includes prime-age women (aged 25-54), whose labor force participation rate went from 75.6% in 2009 to an all-time high of 78.4% in August 2024 and is now at 77.9%. It also includes mothers of children under 18, under 6 and even under 1.
| 2009 | 2023 | |
| Labor force participation of mothers with children under 18 | 71.4% | 74.0% |
| Labor force participation of mothers with children under 6 | 65.2% | 68.9% |
| Labor force participation of mothers with children under 1 | 56.6% | 62.0% |
You can find our research related to the gender wage gap and equal pay here.
Erin George is an Economist at the Women’s Bureau. Helen Luryi is a Communications Specialist at the Women’s Bureau.