A couple of weeks ago on an episode of TWiG, I argued that code is one of the best kinds of activism. Time to put my money where my mouth is. My new project, Narrow the Gapp, is a single-serving web site which displays the pay gap between men and women on average across over 100 occupations in the United States.
The purpose of Narrow the Gapp is twofold. First, it highlights and personalizes the problem of the gender pay gap in brief talking points that are easy to share on social media networks. Second, it promotes The Department of Labor's Equal Pay App Challenge, a call to developers to build apps that address the pay gap using government data. I had the privilege to help the White House's Equal Pay Task Force plan this challenge, so while I can't submit an entry myself, I wanted to do what I could to promote it. April 17th is Equal Pay Day, so I look forward to seeing more pay gap-focused apps help men and women demand fair pay during the job offer and performance review process.
Thanks to everyone who has tweeted, shared, pinned, blogged, and +1ed pages from Narrow the Gapp, and in many cases, braved misogynist trolls in the process. Thanks also to the blogs who covered the launch of the site:
- Narrow the Gap: ending income inequality for women [Boing Boing]
- 88 cents for the same job [MetaFilter]
- Does it piss you off that women get paid less than men for the same work? Check out this site. [The Next Web]
- Gina Trapani Launches “Narrow The Gap,” An Online Tool Highlighting Pay Inequity [The Jane Dough]
Thanks to Anil Dash, Adam Pash, Andy Baio, and Kevin Purdy for their suggestions while I built Narrow the Gapp. Narrow The Gapp's source code is available on GitHub. Please copy and repurpose it.