National Committee on Pay Equity Records

Collection — Box: 13

Identifier: 6425

Abstract

This is the National Committee on Pay Equity's collection of records. The material was gathered from conferences, caucuses, committee meetings, and include statements, reports, proposals, briefings and formal plans, along with other miscellaneous items.

Dates

1885-2006

Creator

National Committee on Pay Equity (creator, Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference archivist for access to these materials.

Conditions Governing Use

This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and Procedures for Document Use.

Biographical / Historical

The National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE), founded in 1979, is a coalition of women's and civil rights organizations; labor unions; religious, professional, legal, and educational associations, commissions on women, state and local pay equity coalitions and individuals working to eliminate sex- and race-based wage discrimination and to achieve pay equity.

NCPE's purpose is to close the wage gap that still exists between women, as well as people of color, and men. In 1963, when the Equal Pay Act was signed, women made 59 cents on average for every dollar earned by men (based on Census figures of median wages of full-time, year-round workers). By 2012, women earned 77 cents to men's dollar, a narrowing of the wage gap by less than half a cent a year. Over a working lifetime, this wage disparity costs the average American woman and her family an estimated $700,000 to $2 million, impacting Social Security benefits and pensions.