Mike K. Essay on Equal Pay in the Workplace. In 1963, President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, making employment discrimination illegal against a worker on the basis of sex. Since then, the wage gap between men and women in the United States has narrowed by just 15 cents, now reaching 74 cents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Pay equality is most prevalent in the 16 to 24 age group, in which women earn more than 90 percent of what men earn; However, the gap reaches 75 percent in the 25 to 54 age group – those who are at the peak of their careers and personal responsibilities. A number of factors have contributed to the gender pay gap. These include: occupational segregation of women in low-paid jobs; lower levels of unionization for women and attitudinal barriers that prevented women from achieving equality in the workplace and an undervaluing of women's work. The Equal Pay Act (part of the Fair Labor Standards Act) prohibits employers from paying women differently for jobs that are "substantially equal," meaning nearly identical. Traditionally, women have worked in professions different from those of men; these professions tend to be significantly different, pay less, and confer less authority. Equity means fairness and justice. Pay equity programs around the world attempt to legislate and regulate the elimination of systemic gender-based pay discrimination and ensure permanent systems that will maintain fair pay relationships over time. Pay equity programs attempt to address the undervaluation of work traditionally or historically performed by women. . Pay equity (also called “comparable value”) programs require a gender-neutral analysis of comparative work. A variety of very different jobs are compared based on a composite of skills, effort, and responsibilities related to a job and the conditions under which the work is typically performed. The comparison determines the relative value of these jobs to achieving a company's goals, under the proposition that equal contribution deserves equal pay. When female-dominated jobs in the workplace are found to be of equal or comparable value to male-dominated jobs but paid below the level of male jobs or pay line, then all employees in those predominantly male jobs women are entitled to pay equity adjustments. .But how can these adjustments be determined in a workplace that already subjectively underestimates the effort and contribution of women and minorities ??