Publications

The Council on Contemporary Families' Equal Pay Symposium: 50 Years Since the Equal Pay Act of 1963.

Fifty years after passage of the Equal Pay Act, much has changed. Yet the gender wage gap persists.

Why do women earn less than men? Research points to a number of different explanations, but one of the central factors remains women’s caregiving responsibilities.

Gender inequality within families is reciprocally related to gender inequality in the paid workplace. That is why one of the legacies of the Equal Pay Act, which brought scrutiny and sanctions to bear on gender discrimination in the workplace, has been the growth of egalitarianism within families as well.

Key pieces of legislation passed in the 1960s and 1970s – including the Equal Pay Act, Title VII, and Title IX – have significantly reduced, though not entirely eliminated, direct discrimination in hiring and pay based solely on gender. Unfortunately, the progress of the past 50 years has not spelled the end for gender discrimination in the workplace.