by Aleigh Acerni, Editorial Assistant
The Charleston Regional Business Journal
May 19 - June 2, 2003

Although President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act in 1963 to ensure that women received equal pay for equal work, 40 years later in 2003, economic equality is still an ongoing fight for women workers in America and the wage gap persists.

According to Newsweek magazine, women still only earn just 78 cents on the dollar compared with men and the statistics are even more dramatic for minority women—an African-American woman earns only 65 cents to every dollar earned by a Caucasian man and a Hispanic woman only 53 cents.

In January, Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) re-introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 76), a bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide more effective remedies to victims of discrimination in the payment of wages on the bases of sex and for other purposes. The bill would strengthen Kennedy’s 1963 Equal Pay Act and was originally introduced in 1999 by Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn).

“Without a constitutional guarantee of equal rights, employers don’t have to pay women as much as men,” says Jennet Robinson Alterman, executive director for the Center for Women in Charleston. “And many women accept lower wages because they need the job.”

Although introduced more than once to both the House and the Senate, the Paycheck Fairness Act continually gets referred to committees with no action taken. “Bills in committee can sometimes reflect good intent without the support to actually have them debated on the floor of the Senate and the House,” says Alterman.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 5.6% of married couples include a wife who works and a husband who doesn’t, but nearly two-thirds of working women provide half or more of their household income.

Dorothy Moore, distinguished professor of entrepreneurship at The Citadel, says she believes the discrepancy has varied causes: “Available jobs to women haven’t changed dramatically in past years, where women are geographically located and searching for jobs is a factor and women are still taking on more household responsibilities than men.”

DeLauro’s 1999 Paycheck Fairness Act introduction reads “Undervaluing women’s work robs families of an average of $4,000 each and every year.” So why can’t the situation be remedied?

“This bill has a great deal to do with political climate,” says Moore. “There is not as much focus on the kinds of equality issues. I think you can gain a lot of insight from looking at political leaders and the activities their spouses are involved in. Spouses serve as examples for other women.”

Some employers place a “gag rule” on discussion of salaries among employees. Without the ability to learn about wage disparities, it’s difficult for employees to evaluate whether or not they are experiencing wage discrimination and take action. Also, many women need to supplement their family’s income with income of their own, so many will take jobs they are over-qualified for, regardless of lesser pay.

To help balance this out, Alterman suggests we “ask questions of employers, find out where there are pay discrepancies and bring pressure to bear to correct them.”

“Mentors and networking opportunities are very important,” adds Moore. “It’s more difficult to get mentors for women in a time when there are less women that fit the mentor model. Women are not at top corporate levels.”

Moore advocates awareness programs like those offered through the Center for Women as good ways of helping wage equality in Charleston. “Women need an awareness of opportunities. That has to be the real beginning,” she says.

The complete Paycheck Fairness Act can be found at www.theorator.com/bills108/s%2076.html and sample letters in support of the bill can be found at www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/civilrights/equalpay.html. The Center for Women’s web site is www.C4women.org.

Key provisions of the Paycheck Fairness Act:

• Allow women to file class action lawsuits under the Equal Protection Act to ensure that all offenses are addressed.

• Strengthen the EPA by allowing prevailing plaintiffs to recover compensatory and punitive damages.

• Limit the use of a “factor other than sex” as a defense against violations of the EPA, thus protecting the basic concept of equal pay for equal work.

• Increase training and research at the Department of Labor and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agencies that oversee the EPA.