18 of 129

Yes

Write now Article Tools

I strongly believe that US companies should be required to provide equal pay to women and men. It is alarming that in the 21st Century we are still having a debate on this issue. Women have convincingly demonstrated that they are intellectually equal to men, and in some cases, just as adept in manual labor jobs (with some obvious limitations-jobs requiring a great deal of physical strength). There is no logical justification for discrimination with respect to wages solely on the basis of sex.

Federal law has clearly mandated that wage discrimination based on sex is prohibited. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 states, in pertinent part, "No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at
which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment
for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill,
effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working
conditions..." See The Equal Pay Act of 1963

Even though women have more recourse today than they did prior to this Act (a complaint can be filed with the the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which administers and enforces the Equal Pay Act), discrimination based on sex is still prevalent in some US Companies. Often the problem for a woman is how to go about proving that they are receiving less pay than their mail counterparts, for performing the same jobs with the same skill level or level of seniority. Usually a women finds out through a co-worker that she is being paid less than her male counterpart for performing the same job.

There is no rational basis to justify paying a women less than a man, where a women is equally (or more) qualified in terms of education and experience. Hopefully, as a society we will come to a point where there is no disparity between men and women when it comes to wages.

*Portions of the text of The Equal Pay Act were cited in this piece.

Learn more about this author, A. P. Littleton.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Should US companies be required to provide equal pay to women and men??
We want to hear your view. Write now!