Achieving Gender Pay Equity By Marcia D. Leacock - 1656 Words

Although jobs require both women and men to perform the same work, expend the effort, responsibility and skill, they are not paid equally. Employers are continually paying lower wages to women compared to men, which is due to a wide range of societal factors. In order for men and women to be paid equally, tougher laws are needed. Through analyzing the debate over â€Å"Achieving Gender Pay Equity†, it has proven that harsher laws are required for equal pay to be a reality. Marcia D. Greenberger presents some exceptional points in that for every dollar men earn a women will only earn seventy seven cents and that throughout the United States not one state has yet achieved equal pay. Greenberger’s opponent Barbara Berish Brown firmly believes that†¦show more content†¦The Equal Pay Act was signed by President Kennedy in 1963, which was supposed to ensure that employers had to pay equal wages to men and women who perform the same work. Unfortunately, the Equal Pay Act has failed to achieve its goals. For instance, in 2011 one of the largest sex discrimination lawsuits occurred. Female employees sued Wal-Mart for pay disparities. Not only was Wal-Mart paying women less than men for the same work, but they also created an old boys’ network for promotions that prevented women from receiving career advancements. One female employee stated that when she complained about the pay disparity, her manager simply said that women would never make as much money as men because â€Å"God made Adam first.† (Rourke, 2012) This illustrates how society is still basing wages on an ancient and out-of-date belief that a man should be paid more than a woman. According to Barbara Berish Brown the Equal Pay Act is reliable and adequately fixes gender discrimination in the workplace. Contrary to Barbara Berish Browns beliefs the Equal Pay Act does not establish gender pay equity. One of the major reasons why the current law is inadequate is that when a case is brought to court the employer is able to deny the truth of the plaintiff’s allegations or they can argue that there are additional facts that enact a defense to the plaintiff’s lawsuit. These affirmative defenses make it difficult for the plaintiff to prove that there has been a violation of