THE EQUAL PAY LAW AS A PUBLIC POLICY

THEORETICAL AND SOCIAL APPROACHES AND ANALYTICAL BEACONS

Abstract

The study of public policies from a legal perspective has been consolidating as a growing trend in recent years, significantly contributing to the strengthening of the social state. This article presents research findings aimed at exploring the Salary Equality and Remuneration Criteria Law between Women and Men (Law 14.611/2023) as a public policy. The investigation was based on a bibliographic review of the most relevant literature available in academic repositories, as well as on documentary research on legal frameworks and statistical data cataloged by institutions such as the Continuous National Household Sample Survey of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics and studies by the Institute for Applied Economic Research, in addition to secondary information sources. To characterize the aforementioned Law as a public policy, the study adopted the Law and Public Policy approach, which guided the mapping of its possibilities and challenges, as well as the intellectual construction of analytical beacons namely legal, political, institutional, social, economic, and cultural. The results indicate that the Salary Equality Law materializes as a relevant public policy, whose safeguarding mechanisms and normative framework innovate political grammars in the fight for gender equality. It is suggested that wage inequality is related to the socially attributed obligations of women in reproductive and care work, requiring a political agenda structured around multiple actions, both in the sphere of free competition and state activity, with the aim of systematically reducing the problem.