The US and UK have laws to ban gender-based pay discrimination. The UK’s Equal Pay Act requires equal pay for the same work, experience, and expertise. The US’s Equal Pay Act evaluates gender and was added to the Fair Labor Standards Act. Despite these laws, women are still not paid equally and enforcement is not universal.
The US Equal Pay Act (EPA) and the UK Equal Pay Act are two laws that have sought to create greater pay equality between the genders. When women first entered the workforce, women had little protection in this sector: it was often argued that women should earn less because they did not support families. Yet many people argued that discrimination on the basis of gender when it came to determining salary was unfair. To counter this, both the US and the UK have developed laws to ban gender-based pay discrimination, and many other countries have similar laws.
In the 1970s, the UK developed and passed an Equal Pay Act which required pay to be equal provided people did the same type of work. They must also have equivalent experience and be able to demonstrate that they have the same level of expertise as other employees. Provided these things can be verified, gender should never be factored into determining salary. If it can be shown that a man or woman is not being paid equally, that person can go to court and sue for back pay and an increase in normal pay.
In the US, efforts to develop the Equal Pay Act started earlier. In the 1960s, several major pieces of legislation helped establish less discriminatory practices in the workforce. One of these was the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which aimed to provide fair treatment in the workforce and elsewhere for genders, people of different religious backgrounds, and people of different races.
The US Equal Pay Act went even further by specifically discussing how employers should evaluate gender. It was added to an employee protection law passed in 1938 and is called the Fair Labor Standards Act. Other laws have helped strengthen the EPA, and one of them is the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. This law eliminates the statute of limitations about being able to sue for overdue payments, if an employee later realizes they have not been paid fairly.
Despite the EPA’s intentions, it is estimated that women are still not paid equally. While the Equal Pay Act has improved and leveled some wages, it is still not universally enforced in either the UK or the US. Because employers often discourage employees from discussing salary, some women remain underpaid for years without realizing they are underpaid. Country EPAs are a successful but not yet won battle.
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