Parable of the Sadhu

Forty years after the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), full time working women still earn an average of 80 percent for each dollar earned by men. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 1999 women earned only 72 cents for every dollar than men earned. This is approximately a 13 cent improvement from the 1963 wage gap figure of 59 cents on the dollar (EEOC website). The Equal Pay Act, signed by President Kennedy, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in the payment of wages or benefits, where men and women perform work of similar skill, effort, and responsibility for the same employer under similar working conditions. Employers may not reduce wages of either sex to equalize pay between men and women. A violation of the EPA may occur where a different wage was or is paid to a person who worked in the same job before or after an employee of the opposite sex. Jobs are not required to be identical, but they must be equal. It is job content, not job titles, that determines whether jobs are equal.

The issue of equal work for equal pay has a long legislative and judicial history and yet remains one of the social problems that has shown staying power. According to the data from the National Bureau Labor Statistics federal, state, and private sector efforts have fallen short of their aims when trying to equal the playing field, at least in regards to pay equity for women. Discrimination against women in the workplace has been addressed in successive legislation, executive orders and court decisions dating back to 1961. President Kennedy issued Executive Order 10925, which created the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity and prohibited discrimination on the basis of gender, race, creed, color, or national origin by federal contractors (EEOC website). In 1965, President Johnson through Executive Order 11375 expanded President Kennedy's order. Equal pay legislation was first introduced through the Equal Pay Act of 1963 as an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act. This law requires equal pay for work involving equal skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made all discrimination illegal, and Title VII specifically forbids discrimination in employment practices based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. In 1991, the Civil Rights Acts was amended to strengthen protections. Title VI, known as the Equal Pay Act was amended to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender, race, color, or national origin in any program or activity that receives federal government financial assistance, loans, tax breaks or grants and contracts from government. In addition to federal legislation most states have equal pay laws.

Until the early 1960's, newspapers published separate job listings for men and women. Jobs were categorized according to sex, with the higher level jobs listed under the help wanted