What Is Equal Pay For Equal Work?

Despite the passage of protective federal legislation in the forms of the Equal Pay Act in 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Acts of 1964, there still exists prominent gender discrimination in the workplace that negatively impacts career advancement for women. This is best seen through the case example of Ann Hopkins. Hopkins was denied a career advancement to partner status within Price Waterhouse solely based on her perceived femininity and not the quality of her previous work for the company. This incident occurred in 1982, roughly 20 years after the passage of the Equal Pay Act and Title VII. Although the Equal Pay Act and Title VII have made great strides towards economic gender equality in the United States, they are by no means complete. The United States needs additional legislation in order to guarantee equal pay for equal work.

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Furthermore, the gap is even larger for women of color. African American Women on average earn only 64 percent of what white males are paid and Latinas earn a mere 55 percent. The disparity in the wage gap greatly affects women’s spending power. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), over the course of 15 years, women lose thousands of dollars due to wage gap discrimination. With a lack of spending power, it is much more difficult for a woman to attain financial independence when compared to males in the same position. By administering non-equal pay to female employees, employers essentially rob families of essential income through an explicit bias against female equality and advancement. This bias could be ameliorated through regulatory procedures that ensure fair compensation for work completed, thus reducing financial stressors caused by the disparity