Return to Home PageEconomic benefit...
"Passage of a meaningful equal pay bill will end a long and unfortunate pattern of discrimination against women and it will place the Federal Government in the same desirable position as the 20 states which have enacted equal pay laws. It will help all areas of the economy, men as well as women, by stabilizing wage rates, increasing job security, and discouraging the replacement of men with women at lower rates of pay."
As a matter of equality...
"We have long passed the time when women were allegedly working for 'pin money.' Women are working to earn a living, to support families or to contribute to the family's ability to send the children to college- in addition to whatever personal sense of achievement may be involved. The supermarket does not have a special rate for them, their rent is not based on sex. Why then do we allow a pay differential to continue which give gives them a smaller paycheck than others performing the same work?"
Increasing numbers of "hardworking ladies" in the workforce...
"Twenty-four and one-half million workers or one-third of the labor force today are women...We know that the earnings of women are estimated to be more than $45 billion annually...They perform work-and competently-in almost every occupation in our industrial complex. All of these facts serve to point out the importance economically and morally of more equally sharing the benefits of our national prosperity with the hardworking ladies of our land."*
Beat the Russians...
"Khrushchev has predicted that by 1970 Russia will overtake this country economically. We need all the incentive that we can provide to the labor force of this Nation to keep America superior in economic power and progress in the free world today."
Good for men, too...
"Another desirable product of this legislation would be discontinuance of the process of allowing unscrupulous employers to profit by exploiting women for the purpose of gaining a competitive advantage, while at the same time rejecting the services of men to whom they would have to pay better wages. Thus this legislation would establish fair play in the area of employment and wages for both men and women..."
Women's abilities...
"There was a time when women were considered as mere chattels. Through education of man himself, however, the male specie has come to the realization that indeed the so-called fairer sex is his equal and in many respects his superior. For example, it has been scientifically shown that a woman can stand hotter and colder temperatures than a man can. It has been statistically shown too that women have a longer lifespan than men..."
Employing women is more costly...
"This bill does not take into account the higher cost, averaging about 30 cents an hour, involved in the employment of women. This is due to greater turnover and absenteeism, State laws limiting hours of employment of women and placing restrictions on lifting, longer lunch and relief periods for women, higher insurance rates for women, and the cost of providing women with special facilities."
Would result in job loss for women...
"Under the compulsion of this bill, employers who contend that employment costs for women are higher than for men will tend to cut back on female employment...This legislation has the laudable objective of equal pay for women. If, in practice, it leads to fewer jobs for women, the victory indeed would be pyrrhic."
This page was last modified on June 10, 2003.