The big European birthday bash will continue all this week as the EU celebrates its 50th anniversary. The first incarnation of the EU was the European Economic Community (EEC), which came into being with the signing of the Treaty of Rome on March 25, 1957.

Among the principles laid out in the Treaty was that of equal pay for men and women. Remember, this was 1957! As a point of comparison, the Equal Rights Amendment, written in 1921 by suffragist Alice Paul, passed Congress in 1972, but was not ratified by the necessary thirty-eight states by the July 1982 deadline. It was ratified by thirty-five states.