Equal Pay Day
Equal Pay Day is the day of the year that draws attention to the gender pay gap.
The day symbolizes the date up to which women would not be paid at all from the beginning of the year if they received the same average hourly wage as men during the rest of the year.
Equal Pay Day originated in the USA. In 1988, the American "Business and Professional Women (BPW)" created a symbol for the red numbers in women's wallets with the "Red Purse Campaign". 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 (see Equal Pay Day n.d.).
About the Equal Pay Day campaign
According to figures from the Federal Statistical Office, women in Germany earned an average of 16% less than men in 2024. In terms of gross hourly pay, women received an average of 22.24 euros, while men received 26.34 euros. This gender-specific pay gap is referred to as the gender pay gap. Compared to the previous year, the gender pay gap fell by 2 percentage points (see Federal Statistical Office 2025). At EU level, the average gender pay gap in 2022 was 12%. Only in Estonia, Austria and the Czech Republic is the gender pay gap even greater than in Germany (see Federal Statistical Office 2024b).
- You can find out more about the gender pay gap on our topic page Gender pay gap - pay (in)equality
Sources (in German)
Equal Pay Day (n.d.): History of Equal Pay Day in Germany. Retrieved on 18.09.2024.
Federal Statistical Office (2025): Gender pay gap falls from 18% to 16% in 2024 compared to the previous year. Retrieved on 18.02.2025.
Federal Statistical Office (2024b): Gender Pay Gap 2023: Germany remains one of the EU laggards. Retrieved on 10.09.2024.