A Brief History Of The Equal Pay Act (as Illustrated By The Cast Of Mean Girls)

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 turns 40 years old today! Laws aimed at abolishing wage disparity are so fetch. by Becka Wall , Program Assistant, National Women's Law Center

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was signed into law on June 10, 1963 by President John F. Kennedy as part of his New Frontier Program.

The law provides that no employer can pay employees differently on the basis of sex.

Via eeoc.gov

The EPA protects both men AND women! Equal pay for equal work applies to both sexes.

And according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women’s salaries have risen since the EPA’s enactment!

Clearly, though, the Equal Pay Act hasn’t solved the problem of pay inequality for women. After all, women on average are still only paid 77 cents for every dollar paid to men.

Via nwlc.org

That wage gap is even worse for women of color.

Via nwlc.org

Women have been advocating for equal rights and equal pay for half a century.

The Paycheck Fairness Act, introduced by Sen. Hillary Clinton in 2007, would strengthen the Equal Pay Act, but it hasn’t been passed by Congress yet.

And the Supreme Court has not exactly been a friend to the cause of equal pay lately:

In Ledbetter v. Goodyear, the Supreme Court ruled that employees had to file a complaint on a discriminatory paycheck within 180 days of the first discriminatory paycheck – even if the employee was unaware of the discrimination.

President Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, restoring longstanding law and helping ensure that people subjected to unlawful pay discrimination are able to assert their rights. Under the legislation, each discriminatory paycheck (rather than simply the original decision to discriminate) resets the 180-day limit to file a claim.

In the recent Wal-Mart v. Dukes Supreme Court case, the Court made it more difficult for female retail workers to bring class action lawsuits to remedy companywide pay discrimination.

Via nwlc.org

The fight isn’t over yet – and it won’t be until we close that wage gap.