Women have struggled for equality throughout human history, but especially since the early emergence of the private property and class division. For a long time, equal pay has been a major part of this struggle. Though women have succeeded in enacting laws that are supposed to protect this right, in the United States women are still paid less than men who have the same qualifications and carry out equal work. More still needs to be done.

The Paycheck Fairness Act (PFA) is the genuine pathway to eliminating pay discrimination. It illustrates ongoing inequality: Sec. 2-2 of the PFA points out, “Despite the enactment of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, many women continue to earn significantly lower pay than men for equal work.” It will help in removing the legal obstacles that block women from regaining their rights to equal pay, those like the expiration date of filing the case of discrimination. It will help laws to efficiently represent justice. Shockingly, on November 17, the Senate failed to pass the PFA in a cloture vote.

If laws that protect women’s rights are out of date, or are weakened by the rapid changes in the overall social circumstances, an updating of these laws is essential and should be looked at as an urgent need. The PFA will fill one of the laws’ distressing gaps. It will inhibit penalties against workers who share the details of their compensations.

By stopping these penalties, PFA will help in preventing cases like the famous one of Lilly Ledbetter who discovered, after her retirement, that the Goodyear Company was paying her less than men in similar positions. She missed the case because she discovered that pay discrimination after the expired date of filing it. President Obama explained that PFA will let employees who are discriminated against regain their full loss without being stopped by the expiration date’s obstacle.

The PFA will also provide access that helps concerned authorities to safeguard pay fairness. Sec. 8 -1-B of the Paycheck Fairness Act demands the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to “issue regulations to provide for the collection of pay information data from employers as described by the sex, race, and national origin of employees.” All this, emphasizes the fact that updating the laws is important to fill in some gaps that might develop and those which were not taken in mind when issuing the old laws, which will be achieved by enforcing the PFA, and in the current order of society, it is the only way-out of pay discrimination against women.

It is worth mentioning that capitalism is the fundamental element of pay discrimination. Pay unfairness, in the main, is a major stream for the accumulation of capital and the base of the surplus value. This is the only explanation for the fact that women in America still suffer discrimination. Women work hard to be qualified to fulfill their commitments toward their families and the society, and accordingly, they deserve to get the same positions, jobs and equal pay. In a time of economic difficulties, women face a double suffering situation, and this unjust state worsens the impact of the recent recession on women and their families.

The fight against pay discrimination is a struggle toward ending the role of reaction in society. Besides the direct financial effects on them and their families, this discrimination has a latent impact on women’s concerns. It discourages some of them from majoring in fields like advanced science or engineering. Their choice of career may also be influenced by anti-women’s rights perceptions; that women don’t undertake important jobs. This blind notion is created by the same people who back discrimination against women and put them in this primitively driven cycle. So, we should march against this extreme rightism and push for passing the Paycheck Fairness Act.

Indeed, equal pay for equal work is not only a women’s rights issue, but it is a basic right that should be maintained for every employee. Humans are appraised by their achievements and the contribution that they give to the society, which is mostly in the form of work. So, pay discrimination means a double standard of evaluating these humans, a break with equality. Also, to defend their rights the employees should be aware of them. In his Equal Pay Statement, President Obama points out that by bringing the PFA into law, employees should be informed about their rights.

In a capitalist society, pay equality can be achieved only through legal means. Updating the existing laws is a serious need to keep the equal pay right active and efficient. There is an arsenal of laws that covers the issue, but it is disabled by the laws’ gaps. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the current Equal Pay Act grants equal pay for equal work. This act also refers to Title VII, another legal base upon which people who are discriminated against can file their claims. Thus, updating the laws is the solution, and it will be implemented by passing and enforcing the PFA.

Photo: Lilly Ledbetter speaks out on paycheck fairness. (Courtesy AFL-CIO)