Hey dolls!
Today is Equal Pay Day in the U.S. so I wanted to pay (pun intended) a special tribute to this significant piece of legislature.
WHAT’S THE HISTORY & WHAT IS THE LAW?
The original equal pay bill was created in 1870 to protect women working specifically in government jobs. BUT the bill got pretty watered down in the Senate and never really got enforced, even once it became law.
But The Equal Pay Act we talk about today was signed into law by President Kennedy in 1963 as an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act. The law simply states that men and women will be paid the same amount for the same work. It’s that simple.
The bill, of course, specifies that the job must “require the same skills and responsibilities” in the same establishment. This piece of law was one of the first in American history to combat gender discrimination in the workplace. WWII actually helped bring about this change in that there was an increase in available jobs but a decrease in men to fill them. So, when women stepped in, it became important to Unions to defend their rights.
WHY DO WE CELEBRATE IT?
Because the gender pay gap STILL exists, despite the fact that its illegal.
Women across many different industries are getting fed up and going to court or the press with pretty extreme cases of the gender wage gap. Some notable instances are actress Michelle Williams who was paid 12k while her male costar with the same number of lines (who needed tons of re-shoots) was paid 1.5 million. Nike had four women file a class-action lawsuit together over systematic pay discrimination and the company’s inaction against widespread sexual harassment. Google also had a walkout of ALL of their female employees over wage discrimination. The tech industry, Hollywood, etc might get a lot of press about all of their cases of discrimination. But it’s important to remember, this happens all across America to women in vastly different scenarios.
Also – there are loop holes. Some of the language in the legislation leaves room for interpretation and therefore, manipulation. We have seen cases where language has been maneuvered to justify pay increases for men. The legislation states that increased pay is justified in cases of “seniority, merit, and quantity or quality of production.” This language is vague and leaves room for a company to simply change the title of one job to another and get away with paying the woman less.
WHERE DO THINGS STAND NOW?
Despite the fact that “equal pay for equal work” is incredibly simple & reasonable, (oh, and it’s THE LAW) some men are still struggling with the concept. How do we know this? Oh, because women across all industries are still experiencing pay discrimination based on their gender. Black and Latina women face even lower rates when compared to men as a whole.
Historical stats:
- 1960: women earned 59 cents on the dollar
- 2011: women earned 77 cents on the dollar
As of 2016:
- Women overall earn 80 cents to the dollar of a man
- Black women earn 63 cents to the dollar of a man
- Hispanic women earn 54 cents to the dollar of a man
Another funny yet horrible fact? Women who have children end up experiencing a pay DECREASE while men often experience a pay INCREASE after becoming a father. What tha what?! This is jokingly referred to as the “fatherhood bonus.”
COMMON MYTHS, BUSTED!
- Men are more educated than women.
This is in fact, the opposite of what is true. Women are much more educated than men on average. What’s sad though, it if you compare men and women with the same amount of education, the pay gap is even LARGER.
- Women don’t know how to negotiate.
It is true that women are less likely to ask for a pay increase or a higher starting salary. But if they do, women are much more likely to experience workplace discrimination in being viewed unfavorably (often being labeled “high maintenance,” “demanding,”) and are often penalized rather than achieving the higher salary they seek. We do not see negotiating combating gender bias.
- Men pursue higher paying jobs.
While traditionally female fields might pay less (chicken or an egg with that one though!), upon entering more male dominated fields, we saw overall pay drop significantly! When women started designing, the pay dropped by 34%. When women became biologists, pay dropped 18%.
- It’s “just” 20 cents. It hardly makes a difference!
20 cents to the dollar for full-time employees in the U.S. comes out to be on average about $10,000 per year. That amount can make a huge difference in someone’s life, especially someone starting out!
NOTE WORTHY:
On top of all this, women also face much more harassment (sexual and otherwise) in the workplace comparatively with men. That’s something that routinely holds women back as it’s tough to concentrate when you are busy warding off unwanted advances… Or worrying about what refusing said advances will do for your career.
I wanted to write this post to shed some light on what might be going on for your sisters, mothers, friends, and girlfriends. They might be struggling with this and not speaking up about it. I have only worked in female dominated industries and now for myself so I have never faced a gendered workplace. So I can’t even imagine how intimidating it would be to be up against the patriarchy on the daily. Hang in there ladies & we will all keep fighting for what’s fair.
Please watch the video below where Michelle Williams talks about her pretty extreme instance of wage discrimination.
xx
Antigone