In 1963, congress passed an act called, the Equal Pay act of 1963. This acted was passed during John F. Kennedy’s term at the same time the Supreme Court declared minimum wage laws unconstitutional for female Americans. (The Equal Pay act of 1963, 2002)

First of all the Equal Pay act of 1963 is the act that states no one employer should pay an employee more or less based on their gender. (”Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947″, 1997) Basically if you have two individuals working for Widgets Inc. both hold the same title in the company and share like work, but one employee is a man and the other is a woman. The woman employee is being paid 15% less than her male co-worker. This is why we have this act, to protect the woman in this and most cases, from being under paid compared to her male co-workers. The problem most companies seen with this act is that in it states that an organization cannot lower an employees pay instead of raising pay of another. So most companies generated new position titles with different wage scales to save on their budget. Go figure! (The Equal Pay act of 1963, 2002)

So what is Comparable Worth? Comparable Worth or sometimes called pay equity is the reform effort to pay various positions the same according on their importance to their employer, regardless of gender. (What is Pay Equity/Comparable Worth?, 2002); which is basically the Equal Pay act of 1963. Except the Equal Pay Act of 1963 is meant to pay the individuals doing the same should get paid the same; where in Comparable Worth the actual occupation or title has its own pay scale. These title and or positions would be approved by some outside authority whether or not to be of equal worth and or value to said organization. (Walker, 1984)

Personally I believe the Equal Pay Act of 1963 was a good idea in the perfect world; then again in a perfect world we wouldn’t need it. But in the real world I can believe this was where a lot of woman were laid off or just not hired for a long stretch of time just so employers didn’t have to bend to the act’s demands.  That statement does not necessarily mean all employers, but it does mean that during that period of time there were organizations looking for loop holes in the fine print per se.

Honestly, I do not personally agree with Comparable Worth as far as the pay scale being the same for every occupation. Because I do not think it is fair that someone with tenure be paid the same as an employee with the same title, who hasn’t hit their first 90 days, yet. Nor do I agree with two employees getting paid for the same position, when one does a better job than the other.  For example I expect Angelina Jolie to get paid more to do a movie versus a newer actor or actress with much less experience. I am all in favor of equal opportunities and fair base pay, but we as Americans are part of a capitalist society where being competitive pays off in the long run and adds value to our jobs in the work place.