Equal Pay Day
Equal Pay Day is the day of the year that draws attention to gender-specific pay inequalities.
The date of Equal Pay Day symbolizes the current gender pay gap. If women and men received the same average hourly wage, women would have worked unpaid from the beginning of the year until the calculated date, while men would have been paid from January 1.
Equal Pay Day originated in the USA: the American Business and Professional Women (BPW ) launched the Red Purse Campaign in 1988 as a symbol for the "red numbers" in women's wallets. BPW Germany took up this idea and launched the Red Purse Initiative in 2008, which laid the foundation for the nationwide introduction of Equal Pay Day (Equal Pay Day, n.d.).
The pay gap between men and women in Germany is currently 16%
According to the Federal Statistical Office, women in Germany earned 16% less than men on average in 2025. In terms of gross hourly pay, women received an average of 22.81 euros, while men received 27.05 euros. This gender-specific pay gap is referred to as the gender pay gap. Compared to the previous year, this gender pay gap remained constant (Federal Statistical Office, 2025a).
Compared to other European countries, Germany performs poorly:
For example, the average gender pay gap at European level was 12% in 2023. With a gender pay gap of around 18% in 2023, Germany was in fifth-last place. Only in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Austria and Latvia was the pay gap between men and women even greater than in Germany (Federal Statistical Office, 2025b).
Last updated: February 2026
Further information
- You can read more about the gender pay gap and the factors influencing pay inequality between the sexes on our page: Gender pay gap - pay (in)equality
- The Equal Pay Day campaign will take place in 2026 under the motto "equal pay every day". The Equal Pay Day Journal contains exciting analyses and interviews from science, society and politics.
Events in Dortmund
- To mark the EPD, the Equal Opportunities Office of the city of Dortmund and the Dortmunder Frauenverbände working group are organizing a "New Year's Eve party at domicil" on 27 February 2026 from 8 p.m. under the motto "The Future is Equal".
Sources
- Equal Pay Day (n.d.). History of Equal Pay Day in Germany. Last accessed 18.09.2024.
- Federal Statistical Office (2025a). Gender pay gap unchanged at 16% in 2025. Last accessed 12.02.2026.
- Federal Statistical Office (2025b). Gender pay gap: Germany remains one of the bottom performers in the EU. Last accessed 12.02.2026.