The “labor laws for women” have witnessed a paradigm shift from considering equal pay to women as an important economic issue rather than an “over hyped” social issue. To reduce the disparity between the men-women income graphs, the United States came up with Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Fair Labor Standards Act. After these enactments the condition of women workers improved a bit but as per the data collected by the Central Bureau for every dollar that a man receives a woman receives only 77 cents. Hence, the urgent need for Paycheck Fairness Bill (can be accessed on: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/111/s3772/text) to pass. An African-American woman (does not wish to be named) exclaimed in dismay, "Even when women make the same career choices as men and work the same hours, they earn less."

There a few common defenses taken up by the employers as a shield for not giving equals pay to their women workers. The most common reason is that market forces drive the requirement for male workers. This reasoning was dismissed long back by the Supreme Court in 1974 in Corning Glass Works v. Brennan (summary can be accessed on: http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/417/188/). The Court gave unmistakable definition of “work conditions” as encompassing physical surroundings and hazards and not the time of day worked. But even after this pronouncement the defense remains in one form or the other.

The other excuses given by the employers are- the organization’s hierarchy arrangement, the quantity and quality of output per person or any other factor other than sex. In fact, most of these discrepancies are due to continuing prejudices against the women workforce in the US. This bill did not receive any explicit support from the republicans. Larger burdens for businesses, more government regulation and control of the employer-employee relationship, plethora of frivolous lawsuits, etc. are some of the arguments advanced against this bill. On being asked about the resistance posed by the Republicans, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, (D) Maryland, said “I am not surprised at how they [Republican] don’t support equal pay for equal work” (the news flash can be accessed on: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/now-with-alex-wagner/47692618#47692618).

As dreaded by the locals, the bill was blocked by the Republicans in the summer session of 2012 for the want of 60 votes so as to advance. On defeat of this bill, Rep. Jackie Speier, (D) California, said that “The issue doesn’t go away, women deserve to be fairly treated […] and we are going to continue to fight this Fight”.

The Pay Equity legislation was not only meant to fight for “equal pay for equal work” but also to remove the consequences or repercussions that follow if a woman tries to assert her right for equal pay. The intention was to conceal the loopholes in Equal Pay Act.