June 10: Equal Pay Act Signed

Today in history, June 10, 1963: a promise of equal work for equal pay finally reached the president’s desk. President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, making it illegal for covered employers to pay women and men differently for jobs requiring equal skill, effort, and responsibility under similar conditions. It did not end the pay gap overnight, and its limits would become part of later civil rights battles. But it turned a workplace injustice into a federal legal claim, and it still reminds us that fairness at work has to be written, enforced, and defended.