Equal Pay Amendment Passed

In 1963, Congress passed the Equal Pay Act, which amended the Fair Labor Standards Act to prohibit employers from paying women less than men for performing substantially equal work. It was among the first federal laws designed specifically to address wage discrimination against women, and it was signed into law by President John F. Kennedy.

The following year, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 broadened these protections. Title VII of that act barred employment discrimination on the basis of sex, among other categories, and established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce anti-discrimination law. Together, the Equal Pay Act and Title VII created the legal foundation for challenging unequal treatment of women in the American workplace, though significant pay disparities persisted long afterward.