The success women had in the workplace during World War II was only the beginning of their fight against sex discrimination. Employers were still unfair when it came to women working, forcing Congress to pass the Equal Pay Act of 1963. The act was an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act because women were being treated severely different than men when it came to getting paid. The Equal Pay Act allowed women to receive the same amount of money as men for jobs that required equal skill, effort, responsibility, and work conditions. It also made sure that an employer could not discriminate against women when hiring someone for a job. Although this seems like a very positive action for women, there are loop holes similar to many solutions of the government. What was not correctly defined in the act was the definition of "equal work." Jobs did not have to be identical for them to be considered equal. Because of this, "It did not prevent employers from reclassifying certain types of jobs according to a lower pay scale" (Sex Discrimination). This demonstrates that a woman could be doing the same work as a man, but because they are not referred to as the same job, a woman could potentially be paid less. Once again, women were being treated similar to blacks in the way they were cheated when being paid for work. Blacks were taken advantage of because they were willing to do difficult labor for a cheap price. Although women were not doing the same physically demanding work as blacks, they were still being treated as if they were worth less than a white man. Reading this article made me gain much more respect for women that are on the higher end of the working scale. Those are the women that were able to defeat the loop holes of this act, and show the true capabilities of a woman. I believe that because this act is still in affect today, it has only caused a greater tragedy. Any person that wants to base someone's salary off their gender does not believe in the power females have. Even though we have laws forbidding discrimination in the workplace, our society continues to find way around this law due to the lack of appreciation there is for women.
"Equal Pay Act (1963)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2010.
Equal Pay Act
I really enjoyed your post.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post. I also wrote about The Equal Pay Act and researched the way women were being discriminated aganist in the 1960's. Just as you stated, both women and the Africa-American race were treated unfaitly in similar ways. Both were being treated as if they were less than a white man. I agree with what you wrote and I think you chose a perfect quote to demonstrate the way society degraded women. Although male employer's were not technically breaking the law, they were finding ways to work around it. They would hire women for lower-paying jobs, instead of higher-paying jobs that a man could do. Overall the basis of what you wrote I agree with. However, I do not believe that women are still being treated as unfairly today as they were back in the 1960's. More women now have jobs that back then, only "men could do." There are more women lawyers, doctors, and politicans than ever before. Women may not have gained the total respect they want, but they have made enormous progress in recieving the rights they deserve. Your blog allowed me to learn more about the topic of women.
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