Pay Inequity:: Now What?

Abstract

My last column focused on pay inequities based on gender, race, age, or sexual orientation, issues on which the #MeToo movement has recently brought increased focus and renewed attention. Many of us had assumed that since the Equal Pay Act of 1963 made it a punishable offense to pay women less than men for the same job, any differences in pay based on gender had narrowed, but data from the US Department of Labor have revealed otherwise. While I noted last month the issue of pay secrecy (which remains the norm in some settings) continues to contribute mightily to pay inequities across the board, my intended focus of this month’s column is dealing with pay inequities manifesting more at the individual, personal level.