'It's literally my hustle that pays the bills': A Chicago woman says more needs to be done to level the playing and paying field

CHICAGO (CBS) -- It takes the average woman all of last year through today, March 15, two and a half months into the new year to earn as much as the average man made last year.

For women of color, it takes much longer. CBS 2's Jackie Kostek explores how the wage gap affects women today and what is being done to level the playing - or paying - field.

As head organizer for the Little Village Community Council, Chella Garcia is well aware of how the wage gap impacts women in her community.

"Being underpaid doesn't necessarily mean that you're not employed and people will willingly take two, three jobs to make up that wage gap."

Garcia herself is staring down the disparities.

"The position I have, in more established not for profits that are not community based, I've seen someone make about $80,000 to $100,000 a year to the level of my qualifications."

Garcia has been a community organizer since she was 15. Her decades of experience not reflected in her paycheck. If the paycheck comes, at all.

"I get paid by donation, on campaign, on consultation," Garcia said. "I would say, on average, maybe about $12,000 a year."

Garcia isn't alone. According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, the wage gap is the widest for Latina women, who make 57 cents to the dollar of a white man.

"Over a 40-year career, it means $1.1 million in wage loss."

Cherita Ellens is the president and CEO of Women Employed, an advocacy organization working to close the economic gap for women and eliminate barriers to economic equity.

"The impact then that has on your retirement savings, on choices you can make for your family, where you get to live, where you send your kids to school all of that ties into pay gap," Ellens said.

So what's being done to fix it? Ellens says in the past few years, two important amendments were made to the Illinois Equal Pay Act.

One that will soon force many companies to make public their data around employee gender, race and pay. And the No Salary History Law, which bars employers from asking a job candidate how much they made in previous jobs.

"It helps stop the bleeding. If I've been underpaid my entire career and now I have an opportunity to go somewhere else, I don't have to take that with me into my next job and I can begin to equalize my pay," Ellens said.

Still, for both Ellens and Garcia, progress can feel painstakingly slow. Garcia working several gigs, nearly around the clock to make ends meet.

How does she stay afloat?

"It's literally my hustle that pays the bills."