Born: 9 December 1906, United States
Died: 20 December 1997
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Esther Eggertsen
The following is republished from the National Archives (US). This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
In 1961, labor activist Esther Peterson, the head of the Women’s Bureau in the Department of Labor, urged President Kennedy to establish the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women in order to develop recommendations for achieving gender equality. Together with this commission, Esther Peterson submitted a draft bill of the Equal Pay Act to Congress on behalf of the Kennedy administration.
Segments of society opposed the Equal Pay Act. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Retail Merchants Association both argued that women were more expensive to employ than men due to the perceived added costs associated with women workers such as absenteeism, high turnover, rest periods, longer time for meals, and separate toilets. In addition, both organizations argued that the issue of equal pay was already being addressed by 21 state legislatures and that federal regulation was not necessary.
In order to garner support and calm fears, Congress made the Equal Pay Act an amendment to an already existing law: the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA already regulated labor aspects such as minimum wage and overtime pay, and it affected most private and public employment. Although the draft bill called for equal pay for “comparable work,” the phrase was eventually changed to placate opposing parties.
Eventually, on June 10, 1963, President Kennedy signed the bill, H.R. 5056, into law with the following wording: “Discrimination against employees, in rates of compensation paid, on account of sex is hereby declared to be contrary to the public interest, and it is the policy of the United States, so far as practicable, to eliminate such discrimination.” This was one of the first anti-discrimination laws that addressed wage differences on the basis of gender.