Women And Pay Discrimination

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.

Equality has been a topic of major discussion in the last decade. Equality, which definition consists of the state of being equal or the same, has not had a major impact on gender pay. Men are known to make more money than women simply based on gender. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was supported by President John F. Kennedy to cease the gender pay gap and allow women equal rights in wages as men. Although, it has been fifty four years since The Equal Pay Act of 1963 went into effect, it seems as if the idea for equal pay for women is still not only a topic for debate, but also an issue for women that needs to be resolved.

What are possible reasons, according to the author, for why the issue of unequal pay among women of color in particular does not garner national media attention?

First of all, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal regulation prohibiting employers from discriminating against employees based on national origin, race, sex, color, and religion (Follett, Ward, & Welch, 1993). This act applies to employers with 15 or more employees and serves as a mechanism to ensure equality within the workplace (Fraley, 2013). This case is a violation of Title VII from the aspect of retaliation. Retaliation occurs when an individual is treated differently after such things as, filing a complaint or engaging in a legally protected activity. It can range from demotion, terminations, salary reduction, or any negative job action. Second, the plaintiff should receive judgment for the claims of sex discrimination,

Since the 1970’s there have been surveys showing there is a pay gap between men and women. This gap seems to have been decreasing since then but it is still there. There have been social movements over the pay gap issue stating that “in the 1970s was 59 cents on the dollar and a more recent crusade for pay

The bill would allow for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) training to be better equipped on handling gender discrimination matters and to collect data from employers regarding the gender, national origin, and race of their employees (S.84 - 113th Congress, 2013-2014). The law would also give the Secretary of Labor grants to create programs to train women in negotiation skills (S.84 - 113th Congress, 2013-2014). Finally, the bill would create incentives for employers to follow the regulations provided by the bill; an example of this would be the Secretary of Labor's National Award for Pay Equity, which is given to employers who make a “substantial effort” in closing the wage gap between their men and women employees (S.84 - 113th Congress, 2013-2014). Kulow (2013) discusses how stricter approaches of enforcement have been seen to lessen the wage gap in the past, such as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, but Kulow also discuses the problem with the Paycheck Fairness

In his speech following The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, President Obama mentioned the significance of this Act towards the fight. He said, “Equal pay is by no means just a women's issue; it's a family issue." He went on to say that the issue is the fact that "...so many folks are already working harder for less and struggling to get by…" (Obama). Unequal pay over the years has pushed a more significant economic demise than what companies payed for litigation costs on cases against fair pay. As for fewer education opportunities, those same studies conclude that despite the challenges, "...women earn higher grades than men…" despite some personal and social challenges ("Reports"). Furthermore, according to Hadas Mandel, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, in the last ten years, there has been greater number of women graduating from colleges, hence balancing the gap between the level of women and men earning doctoral and professional degrees

With all the information available about pay on websites you would think there would be more progress but as of 2013 full time working women have earned only 78% of what men make. There are differences between states in the size of the pay gap but there is a difference no matter where women choose to work and live. The best state to live in wasn’t a state and is actually Washington D.C. where women earned 91% of what male counterparts were paid. The worst area to work would be Louisiana as women only bring in 66% of what men earn. The pay gap is evident in almost all occupations whether they were traditionally positions favoring women or not. Age plays a factor into the pay gap as well with women keeping a closer pace with men, at nearly 90% of the pay, up until they turn 35, and then dropping to between 75% and 80%. Women of color have a larger pay gap than their white counterparts with various differences and Hispanic women at the lowest end only bringing in 54% of a white man’s pay. Even education does not improve the pay gap as at all levels of education it still exists and is worse for women of color. This is an issue that needs to be addressed nationally and by the businesses themselves to make the playing field

Some people in the US don’t know the existence of pay gap. Many people, especially women aren’t informed about this situation. In the article “How to Bridge That Stubborn Pay Gap by Clarrie Cain Miller states, “Women earn 79 cents for every dollar men earn, according to the Census Bureau.” Many women are getting less money than men, especially if they work in the same job. For example, women and men can both be surgeons, but as you can see women earn 79 cents for every dollar men earn. This shows inequality between both genders making some women think that one gender is better than the other. The pay gap is shown in mostly in career jobs and big business companies. In June

This act allowed the employee to gain protections under Federal Law and ensure they could challenge any discriminatory pay practices by their employer at any time rather than just in the first 180 days. It allowed employers to police themselves to minimize unfair pay practices by creating incentives for those who follow and penalties for those who do not (NWLC, 2013). Essentially, it places the responsibility for maintaining pay parity with the employer rather than have the employee muddle through life earning less than their peer because they are female or a marginalized group. That was very important as the Equal Pay Act of 1963 only related to discrimination based on sex where this now expanded that to race, color, and

In this time of world, women are still working to have equal right in the workplace. All women should have equal rights when it comes to the work flied. The world has changed since the 1950s, where then men were the bread winners and the women stayed at home. Now in this time we have more of the women being the bread winners. But some people still do not see how women and men can have equal rights in the work flied. Like how women and men should have equal pay. Women that are pregnant or breastfeeding are often fired or pushed out of the workplace. How women lack equal career opportunities in the workplace, and this all need to change.

In 1963, President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act that requires everyone, regardless of their sex, get paid the same amount. This made it illegal for men or women to be paid less than the opposite sex for doing the same work. But just because it is illegal does not mean it won’t happen. In 2014, women in the United States were paid 79% of what men were paid. Since then the gap has gotten smaller

Despite the fact that the Equal Pay Act has been law since 1963, many problems inevitably arise in the administration of equal pay laws (Fisher). It has been estimated that at this current slow rate of progression in closing the gender pay gap it will be 2068 by the time men and women’s wages are equalized. It is clear that the business case, as well as the legislative case, has a significant role to play (Commission Policy Report).

Throughout the years women have made great effort to become equal to men. This effort has led to great advances in the movement, but not all of the problems are solved yet. One of the main problems as of right now is the unequal treatment of men and women in the work place. Women are not equal to men in the workplace because of unequal pay, a lack of women in managerial positions, and sexual harassment in the work place.