Forty-five years ago, President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act (EPA) into law, making it illegal for employers to pay unequal wages to men and women who perform substantially equal work. At the time of the EPA?s passage in 1963, women earned merely 59 cents to every dollar earned by men. Although enforcement of the EPA as well as other civil rights laws has helped to narrow the wage gap, significant disparities remain and need to be addressed. Today, women make, on average, only 78 cents for every dollar earned by men.
