Sec. 2. Findings
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In 1963, Congress passed on a bipartisan basis the Equal Pay Act of 1963 to prohibit discrimination on account of sex in the payment of wages for equal work performed by employees for employers engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce. Following the passage of such Act, in 1964, Congress passed on a bipartisan basis the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Since the passage of both the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, women have made significant strides, both in the workforce and in their educational pursuits.
Prior to the COVID–19 pandemic, there were over 77,000,000 women in the workforce, the most in American history. Of the 2,000,000 jobs created in 2019, 53 percent went to women. This follows a trend that has been rising for some time. Women are graduating from college at a higher rate than their male counter parts, making up 61 percent of all college degrees conferred in 2018. Additionally, according to a recent survey of working women, more than half are their family’s primary breadwinner.
The COVID–19 pandemic has had a significant impact on working women, resulting in over 2 million women leaving the workforce since February 2020. Despite these advances there is still concern among the American public that gender-based wage discrimination has not been eliminated.