Equal Pay

Today is Equal Pay Day; created to raise awareness of the issue of inequality in pay between genders. Every year Equal Pay Day falls on a different date. According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, “This date symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.”

President John F. Kennedy ratified Equal Pay Law in 1963. This was the first national legislation to pass on this issue. In 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which reinforced some rights granted to female employees against discrimination and wage disparity. 

Since it’s first observance in 1996, Equal Pay Day’s scope of focus has been widened to all groups that face pay discrimination.