Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Women’s Equal Pay Day

• 59 cents for “all earners” (full-time year-round + part-time and part-year)
• 67 cents for full-time, year-round earners

September 15, 2026 is Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) Women’s Equal Pay Day. Equal Pay Today and partners will host a social media storm to raise awareness of how NHPI women experience wage gaps and the impact on communities.

For every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men working full time, year-round in 2023, NHPI women, working full time, year-round only were paid 67 cents. But when looking at all NHPI women earners (full-time, part-time, and part-year/seasonal), they bring home a mere 59 cents for every dollar earned by their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts.

These wage disparities translate into real economic hardship. NHPI per capita income is just $28,313 a year, compared to $44,375 for white, non-Hispanic residents, and NHPIs are far less likely to own a home (47%) or escape poverty (14%) than the national average. (EPIC 2025)

Without accurate, community-specific data, the wage gap is misunderstood, and NHPI women are left out of the solutions. Aggregated data that lumps Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPI) together with Asian Americans (AA) masks deeper inequities. Disaggregated data reveals significant pay disparities across NHPI communities compared to white, non-Hispanic men:

• Fijian women: 87¢ for every $1
• Chamorro and Native Hawaiian women: 67¢ for every $1
• Samoan women: 63¢ for every $1
• Other PI women: 43¢ for every $1

Ultimately, pay gaps can only be addressed if we have full information on how it impacts all NHPI communities, as well as having comprehensive pay equity policies that would help break harmful patterns of pay discrimination and maintain workplace protections for all NHPI women.

This year, the NHPI Women’s EPD social media storm call to action will be:

• Urging federal agencies to collect, analyze, and share public disaggregated information about the NHPI community. Disaggregated data makes it clear: not all NHPI communities experience pay equity the same way. That’s exactly what’s at risk with a proposed Census Bureau rule right now. It would restrict demographic questions, ending the collection of race and ethnicity data for the first time since 1790, alongside broader changes to who gets counted in the 2030 Census.
• Vote for leaders who will champion and strengthen workplace protections and enforce equal pay policies that ensure economic justice for all NHPI women. NHPI women have one of the lowest voter turnouts across the country, but we can change this. Take action here to learn about who your representatives are, who is running, and whether you are registered to vote.

For the social media storm, please use the toolkit created by Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC). Our shared hashtag for the day will be #NHPIWomensEqualPayDay.

We hope to see you online for the social media storm to recognize this day and the work that remains to be done.