We must enforce the Equal Pay Act
In order to see a closing of the gender income gap, the government will need to enforce the Equal Pay Act. Right now there are still problems getting it effectively enforced.
The Equal Pay Act of 1963
The following is the text of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (Pub. L. 88-38) (EPA), as amended, as it appears in volume 29 of the United States Code, at section 206(d). The EPA, which is part of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended (FLSA), and which is administered and enforced by the EEOC, prohibits sex-based wage discrimination between men and women in the same establishment who perform jobs that require substantially equal skill, effort and responsibility under similar working conditions. Cross references to the EPA as enacted appear in italics following the section heading. Additional provisions of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, as amended, are included as they appear in volume 29 of the United States Code.Equal Pay Act of 1963
According to a report titlted Working Hard Yet Still Falling Short, "Adults in low-income working families
worked on average 2,552 hours per year in 2006, the equivalent
of almost one and a quarter full-time workers. Despite
working hard, too many American families are struggling to
get by, advance to the middle class and provide a secure future
for their children."