The Equal Pay Act Of The United States

These perceptions however may not be true. According to organizational behavior scholars, ‘women are evaluated negatively when they adopt a stereotypically male leadership style and occupy traditionally male-dominated positions’. The employees in the case assume that Sally being a woman should be ‘nurturing and … care about their workers’ suggesting preconceived notions of how women should behave. This notion of stereotyping can result in misinterpretation of information because not all people are the same, and many in the same social category may demonstrate inconsistencies with the stereotype.

I would look to see what wage increases were done in the history of each employee; I would do this to see if all employees in each department were equally paid within the guidelines of the Equal Pay Act “the EPA requires employers to pay men and women equally for performing the same work” (Thorne, Ferrell, & Ferrell, 2011). I would then see when the last evaluation was done on each employee; I would check to see if any pay increases were done; I would inspect this to be sure each employee was fairly evaluated based on their job responsibilities. To get everyone in compliance, I would also compare the compensation of other firms to ours to be sure we are being fair to our employees.

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was influential in creating a progressive environment which would contribute to creating a fairer world for all. The Act was instrumental in changing the thought process of Americans at the time, and is responsible for supporting equal pay in the workplace. Gender equality pay is an issue people have been fighting over for years, but when the Equal Pay Act of 1963 passed, it certainly aided in the fight for equality for all. (Salem Press Encyclopedia)

According to Metz (2011), women are being deprived of opportunities and being squeezed out of organisations due to preconceptions about their dedication to a long term role, based on outdated gender stereotypes. In general, women experience higher rates of harassment at work, compared to men(McLaughlin, Uggen and Blackstone 2012).

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.

An important federal employment law that all employees and employers should be aware of is the Equal Pay Act of 1963. As conversed in week nine of class discussion and video lecture, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 ends wage disparity based on sex. The main goal of this act was to ban discrimination in wages, benefits, and pensions based the gender of an employee in any place of employment. Women traditionally earned less than men for doing similar work. The United States has had a long history of knowledge of unequal pay between men and women, but it was not until around World War II that the problem arose and women started fighting for their rights on this issue. Women have tried passing several bills to help close this pay gap throughout the 1950’s, but ended up in failure.

The Equal Pay Act set in the United States in 1963 is a labor law removes the wage inequality between men and women. This was a law that was specifically designed so that everyone is required to be paid the same amount. If a man and a woman are both working the same job title in the same work place there should not be any difference in the amount of pay received. The creation of this law was much more important than many people realized, because women were completing the same jobs but offered less money because of their gender and not quality of their work.The sole purpose of the equal pay is give women the same ability to make a living as a male, which closes the gender pay gap and keeps women for being paid 78 cents on a dollar. This pay act helps hold the employer accountable for making sure no one is not being compensated for things in their job description. In this paper I will speaking about The EEOC Sues Checkers and the Phillips V. Marietta Corp which are two specific cases that shows how people have been discriminated against because of their gender, this highlights the importance of The Equal Pay Act and what it actually stands for.

The first event I find significant is the "Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibiting emplyment discrimination based on race, color, religon, sex, or national origin (for companies with fifteen or more employees)." because it took a stance for not just women but also people of other races, cultures, and religons. This Act gave women the ability to get more jobs outside of the home and be more independent. Women should be able to help with the income and provide for her family just as much as a man. This Act gave women that much more of an opportunity to do so.

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.

Women are continually being overlooked for promotions and additional projects in the workplace for the same reasons. Employers assume that women with families have other obligations, so they won’t consider those women for additional responsibility. Because of this, women aren’t even given the opportunity of job advancement and the opportunity to compete with men in the workplace.

From the beginning of time the male and female have been expected to perform certain roles in society. Males have been expected to work and provide for their family while the female raises the children, cooks, cleans and keeps the house in order. Today many women have broken that tradition and are starting their careers and becoming more independent. Even though females today are braking away from that stereotype, they are being discriminated in the work place because there are still individuals out there that believe that women should play a certain role and that they are not strong enough to work in a cooperation or

In fact, progress for women and minorities in terms of both pay and power has stalled or regressed at many of the nation's biggest companies. This inequality shapes perceptions about who can or should be a leader.” (Hymowitz, 2008) This statement shows applicable reasoning as to why it is necessary to have equal pay between women and men in the workplace. When a company decides they are going to pay someone less money solely based off their gender without regards to their experience, it is discrimination and therefore the company is no longer an equal opportunity employer. Such practices need to be banned so our nation can truly say that we are all equal. Women need to form an alliance to prevent such discrimination from occurring and force our government to prohibit inequality in companies.

For my research question I will be asking: “How is America making progress on gender equity?” Fundamentally, I believe that women are still misrepresented, and are still facing many challenges in the workplace, especially in the business world. The gender stereotypes play a considerable role in the way the society sees women as leaders. However, it will be judicious to consider the small but noticeable changes that have been made over the past years concerning gender equality in the American workplace.

As the author points out, the figures on women in leadership is staggering in disparity. The article takes time to focus on identifying and highlighting reasons what makes a successful leader. Having an opportunity to attend a leadership meeting, in which we discussed improving inclusion at my company, this article presented many of the same reasons that as a company we tried to understand, “Why do we not have more women in leadership?” This article really underscores that in order for a business to survive and grow or for that matter, any organization to flourish you need to find individuals that embody the above-mentioned leadership traits not just seniority.

More and more women are rising to the leadership challenge, even in some of the most male-dominated industries. The increase in the number of women attending college, the increasing number of women in the workplace or starting their own business has demonstrated to men who own businesses that women can be both managers and mothers, thus showing their male counterpart that women can in fact "do it all".