NHPI EQUAL PAY DAY 2025 TOOLKIT

Join us in our movement to advocate for equal pay for NHPI women across all working sectors, regardless of immigration status.

About

Thursday, August 28, 2025, is Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) Women’s Equal Pay Day! Join Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC) on social media as we spotlight the wage gap faced by NHPI women—an issue too often left out of mainstream conversations.

This toolkit includes details on online activities for the day and ways you can participate. We encourage you to share it widely within your networks and adapt the message to reflect your own advocacy efforts.

Background

Thursday, August 28, 2025, is Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) Women’s Equal Pay Day. On this day, we mark how far into the year NHPI women must work to catch up to what white, non-Hispanic men earned in the previous year.

In 2023, NHPI women working full time, year-round earned just 65 cents for every $1 paid to white, non-Hispanic men. When including all NHPI women earners—full-time, part-time, and seasonal—the number drops to 61 cents. Over a 40-year career, these inequities amount to enormous losses. For example, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) women working full time, year round typically lose $81,560 to the wage gap over a 40-year career, and Native Hawaiian women alone stand to lose nearly $1 million.

Yet the full picture is often hidden. 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: 77¢ for every $1

  • Chamorro and Tongan women: 69¢ for every $1

  • Samoan women: 64¢ for every $1

  • Native Hawaiian women: 62¢ for every $1

Source: National Women’s Law Center & 2019-2023 American Community Survey 5-year estimates

Without accurate, community-specific data, the wage gap is misunderstood, and NHPI women are left out of the solutions.

Vision

Every person deserves the ability to live, work, and make decisions about their future without the burden of economic insecurity. Fair wages and safe working conditions allow NHPI women to thrive and provide for themselves, their families, and their communities.

Problem

  • NHPI women experience one of the largest wage gaps in the nation and remain far from reaching pay equity.

  • NHPI women continue to face higher rates of unemployment, creating barriers to financial independence and long-term stability.

  • Data aggregation hides disparities within NHPI subgroups, leaving communities like Marshallese, Chuukese, Palauan, and Yapese women invisible in policymaking and chronically under-resourced.

  • Recent federal actions—including eliminating the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI), removing federal datasets, and disbanding advisory committees and working groups—have undermined efforts to collect accurate data, making it harder to identify solutions and deepen equity.

Core Message

NHPI women cannot wait any longer. They deserve equal pay, strong worker protections, and opportunities to build economic security. Ending wage disparities requires both accurate, disaggregated data and comprehensive policies such as access to paid leave and childcare support, that break patterns of discrimination and strengthen workplace protections.

Policy & Systems Calls to Action

    • Require the Department of Labor and other government agencies to collect and report data on all NHPI subgroups, including Marshallese, Chuukese, Palauan, and Yapese communities.

    • Correct the misleading narrative created by aggregated data that suggests NHPI communities are universally well-off.

    • Track changes regularly for data collection on the Federal Register and submit comments

    • Pass and enforce comprehensive equal pay policies like the FAMILY Act that break patterns of discrimination.

    • Maintain and strengthen workplace protections for NHPI women

    • Urge Congress to hold agencies accountable for collecting disaggregated data and enforcing worker protections.

    • Support legislation like the FAMILY Act that addresses the paid family and medical leave crisis, reduces the wage gap, and ensures NHPI women have access to the resources they need to achieve economic security.

Social Media Toolkit

Join the Call to Action: On August 28 at 2pm ET / 11am PT, EPIC and Equal Pay Today will co-lead a social media storm using the primary hashtag #NHPIWomensEqualPayDay, secondary hashtags #EqualPayDay, #EqualPay, #PayGap, #GenderEquality. Use our toolkit below to participate and raise awareness about wage equity for NHPI women.

Graphics

Use the following graphics in your social media advocacy to highlight the pay disparities faced by NHPI women. These visuals are designed to raise awareness, spark conversation, and call on policymakers and systems leaders to take action toward pay equity and economic justice.

Captions

Use the following sample captions to strengthen your advocacy for this social media storm. These captions are crafted to highlight the wage disparities faced by NHPI women and call on policymakers and systems leaders to take meaningful action toward pay equity and economic justice.

Don’t forget to tag us @empoweredpi on Instagram, or Empowering Pacific Islander Communities on Facebook and LinkedIn!

  • NHPI women earn just 65¢ for every $1 paid to white, non-Hispanic men. Pay equity can’t wait. #NHPIWomensEqualPayDay #EqualPayDay #EqualPay #PayGap #GenderEquality

  • For every $1 paid to white, non-Hispanic men, NHPI women earn as little as 65¢. Disaggregated data makes it clear: not all communities experience pay equity the same way. We need policies that protect NHPI women and close the gap. #NHPIWomensEqualPayDay #EqualPay #PayGap #GenderEquality

  • NHPI women face some of the largest wage gaps in the nation, losing hundreds of thousands—sometimes millions—over their lifetimes. This is not just about numbers; it’s about whether women can provide for their families and thrive in their communities. Today we demand action from policy makers and systems leaders: disaggregate the data, enforce equal pay, and strengthen worker protections. Share this message and stand with NHPI women. #NHPIWomensEqualPayDay #EqualPay #EqualPayDay #PayGap #GenderEquality