The Equal Pay Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1963, was designed to reduce the wage gap between men and women. The act in essence required employers to pay equal wages to men and women who were performing substantially similar jobs. However, more than fifty years later, women continue to make less money than their male counterparts. According to a report released by the White House (National Equal Pay Taskforce 2013), “On average, full-time working women make just 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. This significant gap is more than a statistic—it has real-life consequences. When women, who make up nearly half the workforce, bring home less money each day, it means they have less for the everyday needs of their families, and over a lifetime of work, far less savings for retirement.”
Women have been entering the workforce in ever-increasing numbers for several decades. They have also been finishing college and going on to earn advanced degrees at a higher rate than men do. This has resulted in many women being better positioned to obtain high-paying, high-skill jobs. In 2018, women still earned 85% of what men earned, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of median hourly earnings for both full- and part-time workers in the United States. Based on this estimate, it would take an extra 39 days of work for women to earn what men did in 2018 (Pew Research, 2019). Countless studies that have controlled for work experience, education, and other factors unanimously demonstrate that disparity between wages paid to men and to women still exists (Pew Research Center 2014).
FURTHER RESEARCH
Read the following article from The Pew Research Center to see more statistics about the gender wage gap.
The role of women in the workplace is constantly changing. To learn more, check out information from the U.S. Department of Labor.
The Employment Projections Program of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics looks at a ten-year projection for jobs and employment. To see some trends for the next decade, visit the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website.
Robert Putnam wrote the influential book, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community about the collapse of social capital. Watch a video about the book Bowling Alone.
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