Skip to main content

Congress Passes Equal Pay Act

1963

The Equal Pay Act, first proposed 20 years earlier, is enacted. The law establishes that employers must give equal pay for men and women performing the same job duties regardless of the race, color, religion, national origin or sex of the worker.

At the time, women who work full-time, year-round are earning 59 cents on average for every dollar earned by men, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.