Five Signs of Stalled Progress on the Gender Wage Gap 50 Years After the Equal Pay Act
By: Bryce Covert
Anaylzing an article and addressing labor management
MG 351 Labor Management Relations
Professor: Dr. Bryan Kennedy
Nicole Kennedy
It has been over fifty years since President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into
law. The Equal Pay Act was an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act. “The law
stipulated that women must be paid equal wages for equal work” (Covert). Fifty years later
the wage gap still stands between women and men, with women making seventy seven
cents to each dollar a man makes.
There are many reasons progress on the wage gap has stalled. One reason is the workers
are not allowed to talk about pay. Since workers are not allowed to talk about what they
get paid, there is no way for women to make sure they are not being discriminated against
and getting paid less than men. Another reason is that the wage gap has widened. “The
wage gap was wider in 2011 than in 2010” (Covert). And since the 1980’s it has only
closed about one percent. The progress on closing the wage gap has almost completely
stopped. With the wage gap getting wider, it will take even longer for women to be paid
the same as men, even if they are just as qualified or maybe even more qualified.