U.S. At War: Equal Work, Equal Pay

The National War Labor Board warned employers last week that it would not approve discriminations against workers because of sex. This resulted from the Board’s decision in a trial case brought by Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Co. of Providence (makers of pumps), who refused to pay their 600 to 700 women employes more than 80% as much as men.

Said the panel that heard the case: “The idea of 80% efficiency of women has evolved from a biological phenomenon which applies only to a period of time and not to relative efficiency and competence at other times. There is no proof, scientific or otherwise, that women are 20% less capable than men all the time.”