WOMEN'S RIGHTS: EQUALITY IN THE WORKFORCE, EQUAL PAY
Women's Rights: Equality in the Workplace, Equal Pay
Legislative background. The word "sex" is always an attention-getter, and when used in legislation, it can be polarizing. Public Law 82-352 (78 Stat. 241) was passed by Congress in 1964 as a civil rights statute. The Law made it a crime to discriminate in all aspects of employment on the basis of race and sex. Representative Howard W. Smith (D-VA) added the word "sex" at the eleventh hour (O'Neill, 2011), reported to keep the bill from being passed. As a conservative Southerner, Smith was seen as an opponent of federal civil rights legislation. But Smith defended his action, explaining that he had amended the bill because of his work with the National Women's Party and his efforts to support Alice Paul. The effort to retain the word "sex" in the bill was led by Martha W. Griffiths (D-MI). When the bill was passed, Section 703(a) explicitly stated that the following actions by an employer are unlawful: "…fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions or privileges or employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." However, sex could be a consideration of employment when it was a "bona fide occupational qualification for the job. The law was to be implemented by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) which was established by Title VII of the Law.
The role of the EEOC expanded over the decades and subsequent legislation has resulted in EEOC oversight and enforcement of discrimination laws that include race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or age in all terms and conditions of employment. Although not inclusive, discrimination is prohibited in recruitment, hiring, promotion, termination, wage setting, apprenticeship, testing, training and other germane conditions and terms of employment. Further, gender discrimination in compensation for "substantially similar work under similar conditions" was prohibited by the Equal Pay Act of 1963.
Done deal.
April 12, 2011 was Equal Pay Day. Now, some 58 years after the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, women are paid 77 cents on the dollar compared to men. It is important to note that, if the average lag for women's compensation is 70 to 80%, it is even greater for women of color. In 1970, when women marched on National Equal Pay Day was held, women were paid 59 cents on the dollar compared to men (Thomas, 2011). That's 18 cents over 41 years.
National Organization for Women (NOW). The mission of NOW, as described on their Website is as follows:
Since its founding in 1966, NOW's goal has been to take action to bring about equality for all women. NOW works to eliminate discrimination and harassment in the workplace, schools, the justice system, and all other sectors of society; secure abortion, birth control and reproductive rights for all women; end all forms of violence against women; eradicate racism, sexism and homophobia; and promote equality and justice in our society (NOW, 2011).
NOW membership runs to 500,000 contributing members and 550 chapters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia (NOW, 2011). The primary policy issues import to NOW are: A Constitutional equality amendment, abortion and reproductive rights, ending sex discrimination, economic justice, promoting diversity and ending racism, stopping violence against women, and lesbian rights. NOW is the most influential of the feminist activists' organizations. For instance, in 2004, NOW organized "the largest mass action of any kind in U.S. history" when it brought a record 1.15 million people to Washington, D.C. To participate in the March for Women's Lives to advocate for reproductive health options for women (NOW, 2011).
Families and Work Institute. The Families and Work Institute (FWI) is a nonprofit research center that focuses on "living in today's changing workplace, changing family, and changing community" (Families and Work, 2010). The Institute was founded by a professor of education; so, though its research reads as fundamentally centrist, the soul of the organization is decidedly ideological. The mission of Institute, which was founded in 1989, as described on their Website is as follows:
Families and Work Institute (FWI) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that studies the changing workforce, family...
Pay Equity As American business enters the 21st century the issue of unequal pay for equal work continues. The course of attaining the objectives of just wages for all workers by eradicating the wage disparities between men and women workers is known as pay equity. It necessitates that the unequal jobs of comparatively same value to the employer is to be given the equal wages. Pay equity is considered to be a
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More than 30 years ago, the United Nations (UN) held the first Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women known as CEDAW (Ramdas, Janus, 2011). Since that time, nearly every single member nation of the UN has shown its support for the convention by ratifying the treaty associated with the convention and resolving to work with other member nations to ensure that gender equality is reached
Goodyear which effectively denied employees the right to sue for wage discrimination after the passing of 180 days that "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg was so incensed she read her scathing dissent aloud from the bench. She defended Lilly Ledbetter's right to sue her employer, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Inc. For pay discrimination on the basis of sex, giving a not-so-gentle reminder of the realities of the American workplace."
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