47 Year Anniversary of Equal Pay Act, Yet Wage Gap Still Persists

On June 10, 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act. When the Equal Pay Act passed, women earned, on average, 60 cents for every dollar earned by men. Today, women in the United States earn 77 cents to every dollar earned by men. For African American and Latina women the gap is even larger.   In a statement honoring the anniversary, President Obama said, "All women - and their families - deserve equal pay. Women now make up nearly half of the nation's workforce, most homes have two working parents, and 60 percent of all women work full-time."

The Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill that has passed in the US House of Representatives, is currently being considered by the US Senate.  The Paycheck Fairness Act would strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and go beyond current protections for employees.  According to Linda Meric, Executive Director of 9to5, National Association of Working Women, the law is "a desperately needed update to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, it would close loopholes, strengthen business incentives to end pay discrimination, prohibit retaliation against workers who share wage information, and bring the Equal Pay Act in line with other civil rights laws.”

The White House 6/10/10; The Huffington Post 6/10/10 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-meric/on-47th-anniversary-the-e_b_603228.html; The Feminist Daily Newswire 6/10/10 http://feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=12438