A different perspective on the gender wage differential of the last five decades

Abstract

American society has been experiencing socio economic and political institutional change since the sixties. To utilise society’s human resources more efficiently and to improve society’s socio economic fabric, enactment of egalitarian amendments such as the affirmative action and the equal pay act, among others, were promulgated. However, the road towards better and more equitable wages for both genders has been bumpy. Recent evidence suggested that gender pay differential is still high and may not be in line with policy making intent.