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Politics | 01/13/2009 10:10 am

Women's Groups Urge Quick Passage of Equal Pay Bill

By The Staff at wowOwow.com
© Shutterstock

Think women should get paid the same as men for the same work? Yeah, we do, too, and now some lawmakers are hoping to make sure that happens.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, sponsored by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-MD, in the Senate and House Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-CT, (who first introduced this legislation 12 years ago but amazingly, was not able to get it passed!), would help victims of pay discrimination seek compensation.

"Women earn just 77 cents for every dollar our male counterparts make. Women of color get paid even less," said Mikulski, the dean of the Senate women. The bill "will empower women to fight for fair pay by once again making employers accountable for pay discrimination. The right to equal pay for equal work is a fundamental civil right."

"Who is Lilly Ledbetter?" you may ask. She was an Alabama Goodyear employee for 19 years before realizing her pay was considerably less than her male counterparts. So, hoping for some justice, she sued. The Supreme Court, pretty much on a technicality, ruled 5-4 against Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. The Justices say that the complaint had to be filed within 180 days of the initial salary decision, even if the victim is unaware of the discrimination until later. Angry opponents scoffed, saying the decision eroded civil rights. Obama often cited the court case in stressing his commitment to work for women’s equality while on the campaign trail.

The bill passed in the House last Friday and is now headed to the Senate. Women’s groups and others like the Alliance for Justice are urging women and others to e-mail or call their senators and ask them to act fast so the bill can be ready for President-elect Obama’s signature the day he takes office.

"Our economy is crumbling, and we need fair-pay legislation now more than ever," Jocelyn Samuels of the National Women’s Law Center said in an e-mail to supporters. Seriously, it’s about time …

36 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

C jay
(darned graphic is going - it was supposed to be minute!)
By C jay on 01/13/2009 10:05 pm
C jay
Perhaps women should boycott. We can create a “WPDD” (work for 63%-74% of the dollar day (depending on one’s pay scale) and only worked that portion on Women’s Pay Dollar Day, the fraction of 8. A chart could be publicized so women “and those who respect them” will know how long to work that day. Sheesh, I’ve managed national write-in campaigns before but never - well, yes, I once worked on one for TOTS Day (turn-off TV Saturday to stop violence and drug and vitamin ads during children’s programming hours) - that and the write-in woke up the FCC. Can’t you just see at-home women stopping and putting their feet up at 3:15 PM! “Hello, dear … freezer’s unlocked.”
By C jay on 01/13/2009 10:20 pm
Kay Sara
WE WON A SPECIAL HARD FOUGHT VICTORY Women have now been allowed to have access to U.S. courts when they are discriminated against with unequal pay. We now have legistlation that needs to be signed by Obama allowing women time to discover unequal pay and then turn around and pursue legal correction when we are discriminated against ! We now have another Bush barrier removed that had been denying women access to our own courts. Mitch McConnelll voted against women being able to have a reasonable ltime span to discover unequal pay and file a lawsuit stating- we don’t need more lawsuits at this time. Is he saying it is okay to make it impossible for women to sue for unlawful discrimination levied against them because we have more important things to deal with in this country? Should we stop trials for bank robbers, murderers and other criminals and law breakers because we have a financial crisis? It is okay to break the law when it is against women is basically what he is saying because we don’t want to be bothered with their petty issues during this time of crisis. However, women are barely hanging on to the edge financially , being the poorest of the poor because of unequal pay and discrimination. If this country wants to stimulate the economy- let us enforce the laws that deny women equal and fair pay for their labor. The issue has been and still is the enforcement of equality laws for women - not that the laws do not exist. We have been denied access to trails when we are wronged. This fair pay law daling with the time statute FINALLY passed after being voted down several times! We all need to know our rights and when they are being denied to us and most importantly when we are being denied access to the courts, hence justice. Women are still treated as a separate distinct class of people forced to meet rediculously outlandish requirements even if we were allowed in court. We now can get into a court and have a trial. This is a time to celebrate because this is a step in the right direction. How this ever was upheld in the first place is mind boggling since it was so obviously impossible and rediculous and never should have occurred in the first place in a country that claims to value all of its citizens. We are now becoming a country of equality for all. Women still have a long way to go. The courts are the only place these issues can be resolved and if women continued to be banned from suing for equality what other avenue would we have left to correct these wrongs? Women had been basically denied access to the courts to fight for their constiutional rights. The courst have now been opened back up to us. GREAT! Now 2 more things need to be done. The ludicrous standards to establish proof of unequal pay and glass ceilings and discrimination need to be revised by adults so enforcement of vilations can occur. For examply my CEO wrote a book ‘stating his discriminatory views and the court denied it as evidence to depose him for questions since it was not a sworn document. So women need office memos and conversations and published books to be sworn under oath as truth before they can gather any evidence of their being discriminated against? The second action needed is forthe corporations to get some fear of having to play by the rules. If they paid women equally and trreated women fairly we wouldn’t need to sue. Let’s clean up and kick out these greedy, corrupt old boy network CEOs. that are behind so much of the law breaking destruction in this country and the world. Not one single prosecution has been moving forward in the banking thug CEOs - how do we explain that? More regulationneeded? No the problem is with ENFORCEMENT - or lack of enforcement - of the existing laws and regulations we currently have to guide us. Celebrate, we have hope, now we must roll up our sleeves to make progress - the barriers have been removed and we need to take this opportunity to gain our equality on all fronts. .
By Kay Sara on 01/26/2009 5:59 am
Kay Sara
We should be glad to just have a job???? YIKES! Without this legislation women are denied access to the courts, their right to a trial is denied. When you are discriminated against- you just don’t file a lawsuit and automatically get a trial. They- the judges decide if you can get a trial and without this legislation there was legal reason to deny almost every single unequal pay lawsuit from going to trial. This is an outrage and extreme violation of our standing as equal citizens in this country. The battle for equity - equality hasn’t even begun - we are just asking for a right to a trial.
By Kay Sara on 01/26/2009 6:05 am
Kay Sara
We should be glad to just have a job???? YIKES! Without this legislation women are denied access to the courts, their right to a trial is denied. When you are discriminated against- you just don’t file a lawsuit and automatically get a trial. They- the judges decide if you can get a trial and without this legislation there was legal reason to deny almost every single unequal pay lawsuit from going to trial. This is an outrage and extreme violation of our standing as equal citizens in this country. The battle for equity - equality hasn’t even begun - we are just asking for a right to a trial.
By Kay Sara on 01/26/2009 6:08 am
Kay Sara
oops - sorry about the double post.
By Kay Sara on 01/26/2009 6:08 am