For some reason -- or more probably many reasons -- equitable pay in America has not been accomplished. Recent 2009 reports show that women earn about 23% less than men (National Committee on Pay Equity 2010). How is it that such a wage disparity exists when women have proven themselves proficient in every occupational field, including government that women continue to earn as much as 23% less than men more than forty years after the Equitable Pay Act? This research essay will investigate this subject in an effort to answer that question.
In 1963, the Equitable Pay Act read:
"MINIMUM WAGE
SEC. 206. [Section 6]
(d) (1) No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions, except where such payment is made pursuant to (i) a seniority system; (ii) a merit system; (iii) a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or (iv) a differential based on any other factor other than sex: Provided, That an employer who is paying a wage rate differential in violation of this subsection shall not, in order to comply with the provisions of this subsection, reduce the wage rate of any employee (United States Department of Labor, 2010)."
This, of course, is in reference to "minimum wage." That is the lowest amount that an employer can pay an employee, and the act prohibits beginning man or woman at less than that minimum rate. However, it also addresses the increases in wages above the minimum based on merit, skills, and other criteria that might be taken into consideration by an employer when increasing a worker's pay. Even though the provisions of the Act address these categories of increases and prohibit discrimination on the...
Also, many employers are able to protect the pay disparity between male and female workers by imposing non-disclosure rules regarding pay on their employees. In other words, the employees are not permitted to discuss their pay or their pay increases.
Since 1963, each session of
Congress, and new senators and representatives and presidents have all struggled with the question of wage discrimination based on gender. Adding to that problem is the fact that there are disparities in equitable pay that exist between men and women who hold the same government jobs.
This research essay is an exploration of the problem of equitable pay and wage discrimination based on gender. It will review the 1963 Act in detail, and examine amendments to the Act. Also, what efforts have gone into creating an equitable playing field based on wages in a modern time and day when women are as heavily invested in their
education and jobs as men who hold the same jobs. Has enough been done, and what has been accomplished to set this right?
The research will rely upon the existing scholarship and
literature, and also government reports for purposes of
comparison and in drawing conclusions.
References
Dall, Caroline Wells Healey (2009). Women's Right to Labor: Or,
Low Wages and Hard
Work, Bibliolife.
PayEquity.org (2010). The Wage Gap Over Time: In Real Dollars Women See a Continuing Gap, found online at http://www.pay-equity.org/info-time.html, retrieved 22 October 2010.
United States Department of Labor (2010).
Equal Pay Act of 1963, As Amended, found online at http://www.dol.gov/oasam/regs/statutes/equal_pay_act.htm, retrieved 22 October 2010.
