During Women’s History Month, we celebrate the progress we’ve seen for women, including working women, throughout history. But we are also reminded that this progress remains under threat.

One such threat comes from Trump and Congressional Republicans’ efforts to once again undermine the basic wage and hour protections women have gained over the last 60 years.

Where We Are: Federal Wage and Hour Laws Have Progressed Over Decades to Help Working Women

For more than 60 years, federal law has evolved to better protect working women’s time and pay.

• 1960s and 1970s: Occupations dominated by women received minimum wage and overtime protections. Enacted in 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) set minimum wage, overtime and child labor standards. But, as first enacted, the law excluded from its minimum wage and overtime protections many occupations where women were overrepresented. Amendments to the FLSA in 1966 extended minimum wage protections to workers in many industries where women worked, including nursing homes, laundries, hotels, restaurants, public schools and hospitals. Amendments to the FLSA in 1974 extended minimum wage and overtime protections to some domestic workers, who were overwhelmingly women of color.
• 1990s: Workers gained the right to take job-protected family and medical leave from work. The Family and Medical Leave Act was enacted in 1993 to provide eligible employees with the right to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave from work...

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