Progress, Promise, and Pride: Reflecting on Ten Years of the Reform Pay Equity Initiative

Addressing pay equity is not a one-time fix—it requires ongoing vigilance and commitment. We've discovered that well-intentioned organizations can still perpetuate inequities through unconscious bias in hiring, promotion, and compensation decisions. We've learned that transparency, while uncomfortable, is essential to creating accountability.

Ten years ago, new to my role as Executive Director of the Women’s Rabbinic Network (WRN), I sat in a windowless conference room with the professional and volunteer leaders of the 17 organizations of the Reform Movement, surrounded by spreadsheets and a willingness to face the facts directly. The data was undeniable: talented, dedicated women serving our congregations and institutions were earning significantly less than their male counterparts.

At that meeting, we made a decision that would shape the next decade of my professional life: to create the Reform Pay Equity Initiative (RPEI). Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ) and WRN, represented by Rabbi Marla Feldman and me, organized and lead the initiative, building on our decades of work advocating to narrow the wage gap. Today Rabbi Hirsch joins me in this role. Each Reform Movement leader participating brought their personal and organizational dedication to pay equity.

Since its birth in 2015, RPEI has grown into one of the most comprehensive approaches to addressing workplace inequality in American religious life. As we mark this anniversary during Labor Day weekend, I find myself reflecting not only on what we’ve accomplished, but on the work that still lies ahead for all of us who care about justice—especially justice in our own house.

Why We Began

RPEI emerged from a sobering realization: even within progressive religious movements that champion social justice, women professionals faced persistent pay disparities. When we first examined compensation data across our institutions, the patterns were troubling but not surprising.

Female identified rabbis, cantors, educators, and administrators were consistently earning less than their male counterparts—sometimes for identical work and with comparable (or even more) experience. These were not isolated stories or unlucky exceptions. This was a system-wide problem.

A Data-Driven Approach to Tikkun Olam

What made RPEI revolutionary was not only its mission, but its methodology. Rather than limiting ourselves to statements of principle, we committed to what I sometimes call “data-driven tikkun olam”—repairing the world through comprehensive research and evidence-based strategies.

Through RPEI, we have assessed salaries across Reform institutions, developed tools to address inequities, and evaluated the impact of these interventions. This wasn’t advocacy from the sidelines; it was systemic work that required collaboration, honesty, and persistence.

The initiative quickly grew beyond its founding participants. Each leader engaged their people and added their unique talents to the Initiative. Today, all seventeen organizations of the Reform Movement continue to participate in RPEI, under the leadership of WRJ and WRN. This Movement-wide approach has been essential to our success: it signaled that pay equity is not a boutique issue for a handful of women, but a moral obligation for our entire community.

What We Do

RPEI’s work is multifaceted. Among our core commitments:

• Developing compensation review tools and best-practice guidelines for hiring and promotion.
• Offering educational resources for both employees and employers.
• Encouraging Jewish professionals to educate their congregations about the wage gap—especially on Equal Pay Day—through teaching, preaching, and writing.

Transparency is our hallmark. All of RPEI’s resources are public, because knowledge should be shared, not hoarded. We have invited other religious denominations, professional organizations, and even secular workplaces to learn from and adapt our model. Justice is not proprietary.

The Ripple Effects

Over the years, the ripple effects have surprised me in both breadth and depth.

I have received emails from women who used our tools to negotiate their first raise in years. I have seen congregations revise their compensation structures after confronting their own disparities. Perhaps most movingly, I have watched young women entering the workforce as clergy and Jewish professionals armed with knowledge about their worth and tools to advocate for themselves—something many in my generation lacked.

And yet, the stories that have stayed with me most are the hardest ones:

• The brilliant woman rabbi who discovered she was earning $15,000 less than a male colleague hired after her.
• The seasoned professional who hesitated to speak up for fear of being labeled “ungrateful” or “difficult.”
• The institutions that proudly proclaim their commitment to equality, but struggle when faced with the uncomfortable reality that good intentions alone don’t produce equity.

These are not just anecdotes; they are reminders that change requires more than awareness. It requires courage, accountability, and sustained action.

Grounded in Jewish Values

At its core, pay equity is a Jewish issue.

The Torah commands us: tzedek tzedek tirdof— “Justice, justice you shall pursue.” The repetition, of course, is intentional. Justice is not only about how we treat the stranger, the refugee, or the poor beyond our walls. Justice must also live inside our own institutions.

When we allow inequities to persist in the very synagogues, schools, and camps that teach our children about fairness, we undermine our values at their root. To preach justice while allowing inequality is to erode the moral authority we rely on in every other aspect of our work.

Why Labor Day Matters

Marking this anniversary over Labor Day weekend feels especially meaningful. Labor Day was born out of workers’ struggles for fair treatment, safe conditions, and just compensation. The gender wage gap is fundamentally a labor issue—one that affects not only individual women, but entire families and communities.

When women are underpaid, households struggle. Generational wealth is diminished. Communities have fewer resources. The inequities compound over time, rippling far beyond the paycheck.

The Work Ahead

Addressing pay equity is not a one-time fix. It demands ongoing vigilance and courage. We’ve learned that even well-intentioned organizations can perpetuate inequities through unconscious bias in hiring, promotion, and compensation. Transparency, though sometimes uncomfortable, is essential for accountability.

Looking ahead, the next decade of RPEI will focus on:

• Expanding our reach to more institutions and communities.
• Deepening our impact through more comprehensive interventions.
• Embedding equity so fully into organizational culture that initiatives like ours eventually become unnecessary.

A Call to Leaders and Professionals

To congregational and organizational leaders: ask not only whether you are paying equitably, but how you know. Do you conduct pay equity audits? Are your hiring and promotion processes transparent? Do you have systems to identify and correct disparities before they harden into norms?

To professionals in the field—whether rabbis, cantors, educators, or administrators: I urge you to be advocates for your worth and that of your colleagues. Share salary information when appropriate. Support transparency initiatives. Ask the uncomfortable questions.

I know this is hard. Many of us were raised to be grateful for the chance to serve, to avoid rocking the boat, to put the institution’s needs ahead of our own financial security. But asking for fair compensation is not selfish—it is an act of justice. When you insist on fairness for yourself, you create a path for every woman who will follow.

Pride and Determination

As I look back on these ten years, I feel both pride and determination. Pride in the conversations we’ve started, the policies we’ve changed, and the lives we’ve touched. Determination because I know that behind every spreadsheet is a person with a family to support, student loans to pay, and dreams to pursue.

Fair compensation is not only an economic issue—it is a moral imperative. In a Movement that has long championed social justice, ensuring equity within our own institutions is not just the right thing to do. It is the truest expression of our fundamental Jewish belief in human dignity and worth.

Ten years in, may we recommit ourselves to the pursuit of justice—justice in the world around us, and justice in our own house.