Equal Pay Argument

“Join the union, girls, and together say Equal Pay for Equal Work” -Susan B. Anthony. Countless women, even here in the U.S. have some sort of the wage gap. The wage gap is the difference between the median earnings of women relative to median earnings of men. In this case, women earn a significant amount less than men. Although the wage gap has gotten smaller over the years, the wage gap still has a long way to go. Women deserve better than just minimum earnings. Full time, working women should obtain the best promotions and benefits. Women that work just as tough and have the equivalent qualifications as men do still earn less, and that is just unacceptable. The wage gap should be abolished on behalf of women of color and their struggle, equal pay is a global problem, equal pay benefits employers and workers, and the wage gap accumulates over time.

Imagine being told that you do not need as much pay as a man because your husband is a professor and you do not need the money. This was the truth for Maxine Lampe when she addressed the school district about being paid less. Before her husband was done with graduate school, she brought the issue up with the school where she worked and was told that she could not get the head-of-household pay that men received, even though she was the breadwinner. This is not the only account of this happening. All over the country, women are getting paid less than men and being told that it’s okay. It is not okay.

Being an interagency task force, the Equal Pay Task Force has worked closely together to build a strong foundation in order to ensure long-term success in ending pay discrimination. In the spring of 2010 the EEOC and the DOJ created a “pilot project” in which they efficiently investigated and consulted over 125 cases of pay discrimination (pg7). This interagency cooperation has trained over 2000 enforcement personnel, as well as providing online training to the various departments on how to address and handle pay discrimination more effectively. To ensure future success this task force has also worked with academic experts to use the best means of data gathering, doing so will give the Task Force transparent information to investigate future cases (pg8).

The current Equal Pay Day, April 12, 2016, is a national reminder to bring attention to how far into a next year a woman must work to catch up to what a man earned the previous year. Unlike most recognized holidays, it is not a day of celebrating, but a day to bring recognition to the ongoing wage gap issues. One of the steps taken to better the wage gap is the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay act was signed on January 29, 2009 by president Obama, The law was named after a woman who found out that her employer was paying less than men do for the same job (Somanader).

One problem that Americans are facing is the inequality between men and women, whether it is in everyday life or in a professional atmosphere. One step that has been taken toward equality was introduced with the Equal Pay Act of 1963, signed by President John F. Kennedy. This law was the first affecting the amount of job opportunities available for women and allowing them to work in traditionally male dominated fields. On the outside, this would sound like a solution where nothing could possibly go wrong, but it is not.

One key issue that is covered by the Women’s Rights movement is shrinking the pay gap. Currently in the U.S. women earn roughly eighty cents to every full dollar earned by a man ("Pay Equity"). This accounts for the fact that the average American male

In 1942, the National War Labor Board urged employers to voluntarily equalize wage and salary rates for women to meet the wages of men. The Equal Pay act was signed in 1963, making it illegal for employers to pay unequal wages to men and women who hold the same job and do the same work, but this hasn’t changed much. Two landmark court cases served to strengthen and further define the Equal Pay Act: Schultz v. Wheaton Glass Co. (1970), U.S. Court of Appeals for

In the article, Clinton vs. Trump: Equal Pay for Equal Work, Hilary Clinton argues that the issue of the gender pay gap is a major problem in this country and she plans on tackling these problems surrounding the pay gap that affects these women. The views of Clinton’s unequal pay gap display other wide dimensions relating to: women’s equality in our society and how the pay gap not only targets certain women but women who are mothers, and women of color. Notably, most Americans are unaware about the issue of unequal pay gap between men and women, and consequently this leads to inequality towards women in the workplace. I strongly stress the controversial issue to enforce and fight inequality of working mothers, color of women, and women have been facing in the workplace with the issue of unequal pay between and how men are viewed as more competent in the workplace.

In the 2009 article of Modern Casting titled “Obama Signs Fair-Pay Act”, a report is given about President Obama signing his first bill into law showing his dedication to the labor agenda. It was called the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, with its primary purpose being to increase the time restrictions previously set forth for employees bringing equal pay claims against their employers. Legislated in 1963, The Equal Pay Act was put in place to decrease the pay gap between males and females. The act prohibits gender-based pay discrimination by requiring organizations to pay men and women doing the same job the same rate of pay (Gilley, 2009). But this was not limited to wages alone, also included in the Equal Pay Act are all associated pay benefits such as insurances, retirement plans, severance pay, stock options and more.

Winifred Stanley (R-NY) proposed a bill in 1944 to amend the National Labor Relations Act with no success. Then in 1950, Rep. Katharine St. George (R-NY) attempted to pass the Equal Rights Amendment though again, with no success. Notably, Katharine St. George is credited with coining the phrase “equal pay for equal work” (Cho 2013). During the second wave of feminism which began in the early 1960’s and lasted through 1990’s, emphasis was focused on passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, reproductive rights and social equality (Rampton 2015). Subsequently, in 1963 President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law. Although momentum stalled between signage of the EPA and the early decade of the millennium and we have yet to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, this could change if Hilary Clinton is elected President of the United States and continues the work that Obama started. President Obama has been committed to equal rights from the beginning of his presidency; in fact, the first bill he signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pair Act of 2009. This act is an amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and changed the statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay claim for pay discrimination. Prior to this law, anyone claiming discrimination was required to file within 180 days of the alleged offense, the alleged offense was formerly the first paycheck received where discrimination was claimed. Clearly this

They try to argue that disparity in earnings between the sexes is because of the choices women make such as going into lower paid jobs, taking time off after having kids, and not having the capability to negotiate for a raise hard enough. (Dusenbery 2015, 1) Yet a study conducted by the American Association of University Women in April 2007 showed that men and women’s different choices only explain part of the wage gap. After considering factors like experience, educational attainment, enrollment status, grade point average, institution selectivity, age, race, ethnicity, religion, marital status, and children, there continues to be a five percent difference in the earnings of male and female colleagues that is unexplained. They believe that is reasonable to assume that this differences is due to sexual discrimination. In addition their analysis also showed that in almost all the fields women work in ,the women who work full time still earn less than men. (Miller 2008) A different, more recent study that was conducted by the General Accounting Office in 2010 further supported the claim made by the American Association of University Women. It showed that on average women only earn eighty percent of what men do, even after the considered factors that could possibly affect these earnings such as couples marital status, people's race, their children, work patterns like the years of experience and the

After doing research, Roy presented the company’s Human Resource department with Lilly Ledbetter legislation that put equal pay laws into action. She then received a raise, back pay and a promotion.

Recently Senate Republicans voted against the Paycheck Fairness act. A bill that would amend the Equal pay act so that employees may inquire about their wages, and those of their fellow workers, without fear of punishment. It was hoped that this type of transparency between employee and employer would help workers acknowledge that a problem exists so that the appropriate actions may be

Equality in pay between CEOs and employees is a big deal, bringing more and more controversy due to a lack of action. This has been an issue for decades now and is a hard topic to bring towards a solution. Closing the pay gap is extensive in the business world today, and could bring equality and peace inside companies throughout the world. Making recovery and poverty become one of America's least worries could all start by equalling pay between CEOs and employees.

The issue of equal pay for equal work performed by women; is a political hot button in the 2016 presidential campaign. So much so that the stump speeches, for both former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, and senator, Bernie Sanders, always include this issue. Since the 1960s, congress and many researchers have tested this theory. In order to affirm the validity of this message, we will perform a five-step hypothesis test.