Why Today's Vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Matters to Women
That's what Lilly Ledbetter has done for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which the Senate will vote on later today at 6 pm. Ledbetter writes about why this Act is so essential to all of us in yesterday's Huffington Post. The House has already passed the Act.
Although passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act made equal pay for equal work the law, the Supreme Court heard Ledbetter's original case agaist Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. which claimed she was being paid less for her work because she was a woman (almost $225,000 less over her 19-year career.) Yet they found a reason uphold a lower court's ruling and vote against her case. As Ledbetter explains:
They ruled in a 5 to 4 decision that pay discrimination claims filed under Title Seven must be brought within 180 days of the initial discriminatory pay decision. In other words, they gutted this part of the Civil Rights Act! The vast majority of employees who suffer pay discrimination because of their gender, age, race, or religion have no idea for years. In fact many employers have rules against employees sharing information about their salary.
Today's vote is an attempt to correct the Supreme Court's recent interpretation of the law.
Related article: Equal Pay After Ledbetter v. Goodyear
Comments
Seems to me this borders on the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) that was last heard of in the early 80’s. I am from that era and a Constitutional Amendment is still needed not just for women but for all persons. Although it started with the Women’s Movement of the 60’s and 70′and died with the Orange Juice Queen, Anita Bryant (remember her) and Ronald Reagan may have been a good president to some but not in favor of rights for “ALL” Had this passed way back then, possibly Lily would not have gone through all those years of loss, hmmm.
This is an Amendment that the younger generation and a lot of women for that matter could give a darn about. But it also started women breaking what they dedided to call the “glass ceiling”. Certainly Ms Hillary is a product of that era.
As the old saying goes “you’ve come a long way baby” and she almost made it.
Were it not for this male dominated society, she would have. God bless the Damn Media, also male dominated. I’m sure you all get my drift by now.
“ERA NOW” this was a bumper sticker I had.
Equal Rights Amendment and the National Organization for Women fought long and hard and still we do NOT have a Constitutional Amendment to protect us, go figure. But by God, aren’t we lucky we still have the right to VOTE and failed to vote Ms Hillary for the first women President.
Maybe next time????
Dear M.LL, I was with you, till your last line. Yes, I liked Mrs Clinton and thought that she was a strong candidate. However, should the women have voted for her gender or for the candidate that showed the best promise for the country? If all countries of the world could have voted, the chosen President would have won, even before America started counting its votes.
How can a woman be elected prsident of the USA when approximately 70% of the Electorial College is male? It just cannot happen! Even Obama as wonderful as he is,and I do find him wonderful,would agree.