In 1981, the Supreme Court made it clear that Title VII is broader than the Equal Pay Act, and prohibits wage discrimination even when the jobs are not identical. However, wage discrimination laws are poorly enforced and cases are extremely difficult to prove and win. Stronger legislation is needed to ease the burden of filing claims and clarify the right to pay equity. The wage gap exists, in part, because many women and people of color are still segregated into a few low-paying occupations. More than half of all women workers hold sales, clerical and service jobs.
Studies show that the more an occupation is dominated by women or people of color, the less it pays.
Part of the wage gap results from differences in education, experience or time in the workforce. In other words, certain jobs pay less because they are held by women and people of color. The wage gap has narrowed by about ten percentage points during the last seventeen years, ranging from 62 percent in 1982 to 72 percent in 1999. Since 1973 however, approximately 60 percent of the change in the wage gap is due to the fall in men's real earnings. About 40 percent of the change in the wage gap is due to the increase in women's wages.