Women have come so far and made so many strides in the past century. From earning their suffrage to subsequently serving in politics, advocating for birth control, winning the Nobel Prize and more, women have come a long way.
But women also still have a long way to go.
Women still face oppression, lack of access to birth control, but especially lack of equal wages.
In 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act. At this time, according to the United States Department of Labor, women were earning 59 cents for every dollar earned by a man.
Fast forward 52 years and it has gotten better, but the pay gap has not closed.
According to the White House, “full-time women workers’ earnings are only about 77 percent of their male counterparts’ earnings.”
There is even more of a divide in the pay gap for Latina women and African Americans, earning 56 cents and 64 centers on the dollar, respectively. Women, however, make up roughly half the labor force.
The pay gap still remains glaringly evident.
According to the National Women’s Law Center, “The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first law President Obama signed in 2009, allowing women to have more time to sue if they have not been receiving equal pay for equal work the same as men at a company. This law was a strong sign that pay discrimination is still going on and needed legal correction.”
So why is this still an issue?
As women become the predominant breadwinners of their families and more women enter the workforce, don’t they deserve the same pay for the same work as men?
Everyone deserves the access to equal wage, if the equal amount of work is put in from both parties.
Loquitur believes that women truly have taken the specific measures to bypass inequality in the workplace, but there is still so much that they need to overcome.
If women went to lobby for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, it essentially would eliminate the ability for employers to hide discrimination, ensure that employers will not be penalized if they are not aware of the discrimination and it “allows employees to assess the validity of their claims,” according to the National Women’s Law Center.
It is the strong women of both past and present that can be looked to as a reminder of how far they have come in society, as well as how much further they need to go.
