International Women’s Day Promotes Equal Pay for Working Women

Written By Digital Content Editor Thomas Ahearn

International Women’s Day (IWD) – which takes place worldwide every year on March 8th to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women – is a call to action for accelerating women’s equality which also includes promoting equal pay for women who perform the same types of jobs as men.

The campaign theme for IWD2023 is #EmbraceEquity and focuses on how gender equity needs to be part of every society’s DNA and how it is critical to understand the difference between equity and equality. One way to achieve this goal is to close the gender pay gap between men and women doing equal work in the workplace.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces federal employment discrimination laws and can file equal pay discrimination lawsuits against employers who violate the Equal Pay Act (EPA) of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Both the EPA and Title VII prohibit sex-based wage discrimination.

The gender pay gap has remained relatively stable in the United States over the past 20 years. In 2022, women earned an average of 82 percent of what men earned, according to Pew Research Center analysis. These results are similar to where the gender pay gap stood in 2002 when women earned 80 percent as much as men.

As a result, laws prohibiting employers from asking about salary history have increased to narrow the gender pay gap. As of 2023, salary history question bans exist in many major American cities and several states. A running list of states and localities that have outlawed salary history questions is available here.

When an employer has a background screening firm perform past employment verifications as part of a pre-employment background check on a job applicant, it is critical that the screening firm knows which cities, counties, and states prohibit salary history questions, or else that employer could be fined or sued.

Employment Screening Resources (ESR) is a service offering of ClearStar, a leading Human Resources technology company that specializes in background checks, drug testing, and occupational health screening. ClearStar offers past employment verifications that comply with salary history laws. To learn more, contact ClearStar.

NOTE: Employment Screening Resources (ESR) – a service offering of ClearStar – does not provide or offer legal services or legal advice of any kind or nature. Any information on this website is for educational purposes only.

© 2023 Employment Screening Resources (ESR) – A Service Offering of ClearStar – Making copies of or using any part of the ESR News Blog or ESR website for any purpose other than your own personal use is prohibited unless written authorization is first obtained from ESR.

Share on Social Media