Gender Pay Gap: Not a Figment of Democratic Imagination

Gender Pay Gap: Not a Figment of Democratic Imagination

        American history is full of movements and political battles that have shaped our country and projected vision of the “American Dream”.  The fight for women to receive equal pay in the workplace is one that has been fought relentlessly. After facing unfair pay, discrimination, and hostile work environments for years, women finally began to demand rights. In 1963 our nation endured changes that would forever improve the lives of Americans in just about every household nationwide, the Equal Pay Act. President John F. Kennedy enacted the bill sighting that women were paid on average only one-third of their male counterparts yet they were also playing a major part in supporting families financially (AAUW). The Equal Pay Act (EPA) of 1963 made it illegal for any company to pay a woman less than a man for equal work.

        While the EPA was a major step in the right direction for woman, many find that it has not been sufficient for ensuring fairness when it comes to employment. Many have found that there are still rather evident discrepancies in pay and power between professional women and their male counterparts. There are many loopholes in the EPA that make it almost impossible for a woman to prove un-fair treatment in the work place or take any legal action against employers for discrimination.  Democratic President Barack Obama has taken notice to these issues and has worked to advocate the rights of women. In 2009 President Obama passed the Lily Ledbetter Act. The Ledbetter legislation opened pathways for women to take legal action against employers as well as sue for punitive damages (Facts on File News Service). Unfortunately loopholes in employment law as well as the EPA are just to big for the Ledbetter Act to really benefit most women facing discrimination.  

        With statistics still proving that discrimination against women in the workplace is an evident and growing problem, in 2010 President Obama went back to congress with the Paycheck Fairness Act. The Paycheck Fairness Act would build on the Lilly Ledbetter act to ensure transparency in wages throughout companies, ban retaliation against women who inquire about unfair wages, and make it easier for women to file lawsuits when they know discrimination is present. The program would also offer tax incentives to employers for fair business practices (Equal Rights Advocates, Inc. ).  Unfortunately, the bill failed a procedural vote when not a single republican senator supported it. Despite alarming studies released by the US Census Bureau that women still make just 77 cents to every dollar that men make; the bill was shot down again in July of this year (Covert). Just eight votes shy of the sixty needed to open debate for the legislation; Pay Check Fairness was left behind again (Steinhauer).