The Equal Pay Act was signed into law by President Kennedy in 1963 in response to a wage gap between men and women that had began to escalate out of control.
In 1960 it was estimated that women working the same jobs as men earned less than two-thirds of what their male counterparts earned and pressure from various organizations finally enabled the Act to pass through Congress.
While it is illegal to pay women less than men for similar jobs, the trend continued but has seen massive improvements as a result of the Act and will continue to.
