Status Quo

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Status Quo During 1963-1974 there was pay inequality for women compared to men. The reasons for pay inequality for women were due to a number of reasons, such as, segregated job listings and insufficient access to professional jobs. In the early 1960s, newspapers published separate job listings for men and women. Jobs were also categorized according to sex, with higher level jobs listed exclusively under “Help Wanted-Male”. For example, in New York Times (NYT) Classified Ads 69 and 78 published on Sep 27th 1964, jobs like scientific programmers are listed exclusively under “Help Wanted-Male” while jobs like typists are listed exclusively under “Help Wanted-Female” (P1-2). Also women were paid considerably less than men. According to the Library of Economics and Liberty, in the early 1960s, women with full time jobs were paid 59-62% of what men were paid (Goldin 4). This shows that women were paid 59-62 cents for every dollar that males were paid. Lack of access to professional jobs and the job market further contributed to pay inequality. According to the NYT article titled “The Second Feminist Wave”, “…seven percent of the nation’s doctors are women, 3 percent of its lawyers, 1 percent of its engineers… (Lear 2)” The article will further say “As to the job market: 28 million women are in it and three-quarters of them are in the rock bottom of it. Ninety percent earn less than $5,000 a year… (Lear 2)” So women had very little access to professions such as: law, medicine, and engineering. And 90% of all working women were paid less than $5,000 a year. During the earlier years of 1963-1974 women had a pay disparity with their working make counterparts because of: segregated job listing, little access to professional jobs, and a... ... middle of paper ... ...ents Commission on the Status of Women, Betty Friedan, the NOW, and the NYRW sought change to the status quo of pay inequality in the U.S. These groups would win change through: protesting, legislation, and judicial cases. From the Equal Pay Act to the banning of segregated help-wanted ads these groups helped progress the status quo of the early 1963-1974 time period. While these groups accomplished many things they would fail in some areas. The NOW would fail to pass the ERA and the Equal Pay Act would fail to provide total pay equality for women. But because of these groups women gained: better access to jobs, equal pay legislation, and a more active government role in the area of women’s rights. All these efforts led to women having comparable pay to men. However, women did not receive the same pay as men resulting in continued pay inequality during 1963-1974.

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