Why the gender pay gap still exists

-Source-CNBC-

On June 10, 1963, the Equal Pay Act was signed into law, mandating that men and women receive the same pay for the same work. Yet, 55 years later, the American workforce still struggles with a gender pay gap that affects all women, especially women of color.

This year, April 10th marked Equal Pay Day, which is the time a woman has to work into the new year to symbolically achieve the same pay a man earned the previous year.

Working an additional four months to receive equal pay may sound absurd, but consider this reality: For African-American women, Equal Pay Day won't be recognized until August 7th. For Native American and Latina women, Equal Pay Day won't be recognized until September 7th and November 1st. (Equal Pay Day for Asian American and Pacific Islander women was marked on February 22, but massive pay gaps persist between subgroups.)

As it stands, black women earn $0.63 for every dollar earned by their white male counterparts. Native American women earn $0.57 to every dollar, and Latina women earn $0.54. Meanwhile, white women and Asian women earn $0.79 and $0.87, respectively.

"There are a lot of reasons why this gap remains," Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, tells CNBC Make It, "and there is certainly room for some of that to be discrimination." Read more