JFK+50: Volume 6, No. 1976
JFK SIGNED EQUAL PAY ACT 53 YEARS AGOWashington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-three year ago today, June 10, 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed into law HR6060, a.k.a. the Equal Pay Act of 1963.
The law made it a violation of federal law to pay female employees less than males performing the same work.
President Kennedy also asked Congress for day care services and federal tax deductions for child care. JFK said that while the Equal Pay Act did not solve all the problems, it was "a good first step.
The National Equal Pay Task Force of 2013, on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the legislation, stated...
"The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was the first in a series of major federal and state laws that had a profound effect on job opportunities and earnings for women over the next half century and laid the foundation for the movement of women into the paid labor force at unprecedented levels."
In his statement on signing the legislation, the President said...
"While much remains to be done to achieve full equality of economic opportunity--for the average woman worker earns only 60 percent of the average for men--this legislation is a significant step forward.
Our economy today depends upon women in the labor force. One out of three workers is a woman. Today, there are almost 25 million women employed, and their number is rising faster than the number of men in the labor force."
SOURCES
"Fifty Years After the Equal Pay Act," National Equal Pay Task Force, June 2013, www.whitehouse.gov/
"Remarks upon signing the Equal Pay Act," The American Presidency Project, www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
JFK Signs Equal Pay Act of 1963
JFK Library Photo
