Equal Pay Act

Order Description
Proposal

Equal Pay Act

The law prohibits wage discrimination based on sex. According to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, men and women performing jobs that require equal effort, responsibility, skill and work under similar working conditions should receive similar wages. Although the law is very clear on sex-based wage discrimination, women’s earnings are still relatively less compared to their male counterparts. Equal pay for women and men is critical in management and development of human capital.
Equal pay promotes management and development of human capital. Human capital is concerned with the skills, knowledge and abilities of people working in a particular organization. The firm utilizes these skills and abilities to increase its profit margins, achieve a competitive edge and further its agenda. Human capital is particularly essential in the modern-day economy that is knowledge-driven. Employees gain these skills from educational, personal and professional training as well as experience. The competence and knowledge levels may vary between people, but both men and women will have similar capabilities of gaining expertise. Paying women less than their male colleagues despite similar educational and professional background as well as responsibilities at work undermines the value of their contribution to the firm’s capital. Hence, equal pay ensures that both are equally motivated to obtain the necessary knowledge, skill and abilities that prove instrumental at the workplace.
Two sources are utilized for this essay. One is the website for the U.S Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. The site outlines the Equal Pay Act of 1963 that prohibits wage discrimination based on sex (EEOC, n.d.). The second source, a scholarly one, is a thesis report authored by Gillespie in 2014. Gillespie begins by reviewing the debate on equal pay by examining the arguments for and against the existence of the wage gap. The author conducted an online survey with ten female business professionals aged between 25 and 55. Seven of the respondents agreed that the gender pay gap exists, and five said that they had been personally affected (Gillespie, 2014). These results demonstrated that the gender wage gap still exists and continues to afflict many women despite the passage of anti-discrimination laws many years ago.
The sources described above are relevant. The U.S Equal Employment Opportunities Commission web page that outlines the Equal Pay Act will be used as a legal reference to understand the requirements of the law regarding equal pay. In addition, Gillespie’s work features primary research of female executives in the business world and therefore, will be central to this proposal. It also includes quotes from the executives which will be instrumental in understanding unequal pay for women working in male-dominated professions. The quotes are also important because they provide first-hand evidence of apparent violations of the Equal Pay Act and also help humanize the millions of women who come to discover that they earn significantly less than their male colleagues despite similar, and sometimes more, education and professional experience.
The modern-day economy is knowledge-driven. Human capital is particularly useful for numerous firms today. However, amidst concerns of unequal pay for men and women, the motivation to progress one’s skills, knowledge and abilities is under threat. As a result, human capital and subsequently, business performance is at risk. This is because equal pay for women and men is critical in management and development of human capital.

Instructions: Please tie in the proposal and references provided as well as others. Also: Be sure to read and reference the actual act and any relevant case law surrounding it.

The formatting for the final paper is in true APA style so please spend some time with your APA manual (library) or the Purdue Owl site. The following list comprises the APA style/formatting/mechanics elements of the grade for the final draft of the topic paper.
• Title page (APA or creative approach depending on who you are)
• No abstract or table of contents
• The page limits for the final draft are 7-10 pages. This does not include references or title page. The grade is not necessarily derived on page length, unless it is already a quality paper. But you don’t want to submit a poorly written, seven-page paper. The quality of the content and construction of the paper is valued far more than the page lengths.
• References must be on a separate page and in APA format. They can be rough in the rough draft (!).
• Double-spaced, professional 12-point font. Check your paragraph settings to avoid excessive spacing. Remember to use only double-spacing between paragraphs, and not extra spacing.
• Avoid first- and second-person references/perspective.
• Headings are not required, but the better papers tend to use them.
• Graphics are not required, but the better papers tend to use them. All tables and figures should be listed in an appendix and referenced in the paper where they would occur.

EEOCC. (n.d.). The Equal Pay Act of 1963. Retrieved from U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/epa.cfm
Gillespie, K. (2014). Unequal Pay: The Role of Gender. Durham: University of New Hampshire.