Today, Tuesday, April 2, is Equal Pay Day. According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, which created Equal Pay Day in 1996, it is intended to raise public awareness regarding the pay disparity between men and women. According to the NCPE, the day takes place in April to show “how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.”

However, this symbolism only applies if you’re referring to the statistic that women, on average, make 80 cents for every dollar that men make.

The wage gap is real, but it's even more pronounced when you account for race. According to Equal Pay Today, Black women receive 61 cents for every dollar a white man makes, Native American women make 58 cents for every dollar, and Latinas make 53 cents for every dollar. In order to earn the same amount that white men earned by the end of December 2018, Black women will have to work until August, Native American women will have to work until September, and Latinas will have to work until November.

These various groups of women of color acknowledged respective equal pay days later in the year in order to acknowledge the wider pay gaps that non-white women face due to sexism and racism as a result of gender and racial biases. These pay gaps equate to substantial annual losses: $23,653 for Black women, $24,443 for Native American women, and $28,386 for Latinas, as reported by the National Women’s Law Center.

Today’s one-size-fits-all messaging simply does not apply. Our needs and days of awareness certainly don’t get as much attention as today will. A day deemed “Equal Pay Day” symbolizes the inequality, but disregards the women who suffer the most when it comes to the gender pay gap.

And as a Black woman, I can’t help but feel like today isn’t for me.

Women of color making less than white men and women is a bigger issue than a just paycheck. It plays a significant role in the systemic inequality faced by people of color. Historically, these racial groups have faced more oppression and have endured more setbacks than white people — making it even harder to build wealth.

Women of color have been at the front lines of every fight for equality and justice — forming the backbone of the U.S. labor movement and spearheading the fight against sexual harassment in the workplace — but as long as “80 cents to every dollar” is the default, the lede in all today’s stories and headlines, I’ll know this day isn’t for all. If it were, we’d start the conversation at “53 cents to every dollar,” and a more appropriate and all-inclusive day would take place in late November, as that would symbolize the amount of time it has taken for all women of all races to catch up to the pay of white men from the previous year. (Yes, it would take almost a full year.)

Until full inclusivity is on the table, let’s not put so much emphasis on this one specific day that, on face value, claims to stand for an entire gender. I believe Equal Pay Day can certainly be acknowledged in the name of feminism, but it’s important to recognize who is being centered, and how white feminism dictates the conversation about womanhood. Black women, Native American women, and Latinas are all women, too — and we shouldn’t have to have our own days of awareness just to be heard.

Check this out: Sen. Kamala Harris Wants You to Know About the Gender Wage Gap on Equal Pay Day