Sara_Olson.Week4.Writing_Plan
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School
Southern New Hampshire University *
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Course
200
Subject
History
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
docx
Pages
4
Uploaded by JudgeInternet11127
Sara Olson
HIS 200: Applied History
Southern New Hampshire University
May 5, 2023
Final Writing Plan
I have chosen to research the Equal Pay Act of 1963. While this was an after effect of Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. I intend to dive deeper into the Equal Pay Act and the effects it had on the workforce. This act only prohibits discrimination between sexes, discrimination by race, religion, or anything other than sex are not out lawed by this act. There can be no difference
between the sexes performing the job, including but not limited to, skill, effort, and responsibilities. The employers are allowed four defenses in pay gaps for the same sexes being merit, productivity, seniority, and any factor other than sex.
In researching this topic, I will be looking for the point I hope to reach is that this act was
able to open more options to women. I will be trying to do this by answering the following research questions: How was the Equal Pay Act received? Did employers push back? How did this change affect the workforce? What were the proponent arguments for the Equal Pay Act? Within my research I came across the information that women, while being able to work sense 1867, were less able to manage many work environments because of the physical differences. By 1912 20% of the work force consisted of women. From the prior assumption women and children were then restricted when it came to work hours, shift lengths, overnight work, and abuses. This led to women being seen as weaker, making their work less valuable.
Working women earned an average of fifty-nine cents to every dollar a man made, this fueled the
main argument to pass this act to be equal pay for equal work.
Included in this act was the assurance that employers are not able to lower employee pay to level out any pay gaps, forcing the increase to the underpaid employee, Moran (1970). The jobs that were being compared had to be extremely similar but not identical to one another. While this act did cover the employee when it came to changing any wages, it also defends the employer from being manipulated into discrimination against an employee. The act was specifically worded to not allow any discrimination against either sex.
Once the act had passed and was being signed into law, the president made a speech including the following, “It is extremely important that adequate provision be made for reasonable levels of income to them, for the care of the children which they must leave at home or in school, and for protection of the family unit” (
Bill Signing – S. 1409 Equal Pay Act, 11:45AM | JFK Library
, 1963).
My research will focus on the period when the Equal Pay Act was passed and briefly after. My secondary sources this far have been Cross, S. (2015). Equal Pay Act, Fifty Years on
. Nova Science Publishers, Inc. This particularly useful source Moran, R. D. (1970). Reducing discrimination: role of the Equal Pay Act. Monthly Labor Review
, 93
(6), 30-34 explains more of the social effect of the act and allows me to be able to factor in the before and aftereffects. With these I intend to investigate the technical side of what was allowed to make right any employer that was not aligned with the act once passed. Along with the political views to the public eye. These have been vital to my research and have aided me in finding the information needed to outline my research essay.
The primary sources I have chosen are Remarks Upon Signing the Equal Pay Act | The American Presidency Project
. (n.d.). https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-upon-
signing-the-equal-pay-act
. and Equal Pay Act of 1963. (2006). In A. W. Lerner, B. W. Lerner, & K. L. Lerner (Eds.), Human and Civil Rights: Essential Primary Sources
(pp. 263-265). Gale. https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/apps/doc/CX2560000102/UHIC?
u=nhc_main&sid=bookmark-UHIC&xid=17853c42
which will aid me in seeing the legal opinions of supporters and opponents.
Based on my research to date, I will be trying to support the following thesis:
While the act was passed, the effect it had on the workforce wasn’t quite what was intended or the American society. This paper will consider the manner through which the government and employers have implemented the guidelines within the act. I am writing this historical analysis for an audience that is familiar with the topic, in the sense of what the act is meant to do. This audience doesn’t not have much background information but needs to have an open mind to the information provided. This audience will have
to be from an academic perspective, but I’d like to aim it at business owners and leaders to assist in understanding the limits within payroll. In writing for the audience selected, I plan to focus on the statistics provided in my sources. This will aid me in showing the effect of the law once passed. I will try to place this topic within the context of the presidential speech that John F Kennedy gave when signing the act into law.
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For this audience, my message will focus on the proponents of this act and expressing the
meaning behind their intentions. This will aid in the readers understanding of the function as well
as why it was important enough to have its own movements, advocates, funding, and the benefits
the passing would allow people to look forward to.