"Equal Pay Act (1963)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2010.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
The Equal Pay Act
On June 10, 1963 the Equal Pay Act required equal pay to both male and female employees for jobs that had the the same skill, effort, and jobs with similar working conditions. The Equal Pay Act is still in effect today, and at the time was a way to eliminate sex discrimination. The Act was put into place because of the significantly different treatments of men and women in the workplace. Because of women's lower wages and living standards, their health was in danger. The unfair paying standards resulted in many labor disputes that disrupted commerce and it constituted an unfair method of competition. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was amended by adding the Equal Pay Act into a new subsection. The Act stated that no employer, when hiring, is able to discriminate based on gender. No employer has the right to not pay a women equally if they have the same skills, put in the same effort and responsibility as a man. Employers are however able to distribute wages based on the seniority system, a merit system, a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, or a differential based on any other factor other than gender. Even though the Act was put into place as a way to try and stop sex discrimination, it did not prevent employers from hiring women into lower paying jobs. Secretaries and stenographers were two occupations that were popular from women to uphold in the 1960's. These two jobs were based off a lower pay scale, which went around the Equal Pay Act. Women were still not gaining the respect they were hoping for. Men still found ways to undermine women's labor rights. The outcome of this is act is similar to what the African-American race went through during the 1960's as well. Even though slavery had ended, the blacks were still not treated equal to the whites. The institution of "Separate but Equal" was a way to still treat blacks unfairly without technically going against the law. The employers would do the same thing to women, by not breaking the law but still hiring women in lower paying jobs.
"Equal Pay Act (1963)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2010..
"Equal Pay Act (1963)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2010.
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This seems like it is one of the most important acts ever created on the subject of equal rights. It is unfair how women could be paid less for the same job as a man, and it was extremely important to their equality movement that they are paid the same and seen as equals in the workplace. It is also ironic that even though this act made them equal, they still were not hired to high end jobs. They continued to get paid less because they were doing jobs that paid less. It is interesting how even though they weren't allowed to get paid less, society still found a way to make them lesser individuals.
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