On Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act's 5th Anniversary, Our Work Is Cut Out for Us
Lilly Ledbetter found out she was being paid less than her male counterparts for nearly two decades when she was a supervisor at a Goodyear Tire and Rubber plant. And then she made the decision to fight back.
Now, five years after Congress and President Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law, we have to acknowledge there is still a lot of work to do.
Women are still being paid 77 cents on the dollar of what men earn, despite the fact that more women are going to college and getting advanced degrees.
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI)points out:
For a 40-year working career, the average woman loses $431,000—no small amount....Additionally, over half of poverty-level wage workers are women, a wage below what a full-time, full-year worker would have to earn to give a family of four enough income to reach the poverty threshold.
Women with a bachelor's degree or higher earn about $713,000 less than similarly educated men over their lifetime.
"The labor movement is all about fairness and respect at work," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who met Ledbetter at the State of the Union address last night. "I admire Lilly Ledbetter for her courage in fighting pay discrimination, and we are proud to stand with her to ultimately close the income gap in our country. The 77 cents on the dollar pay gap for women needs to be a thing of the past."
The issue of equal pay for equal work—especially when many women are primary breadwinners for the family—is becoming a high priority for President Obama, who specifically addressed fair pay in last night's State of the Union address.
Elizabeth Shuler, AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer, said:
President Obama was right on in his State of the Union speech when he said, "It’s time to do away with workplace policies that belong in a ‘Mad Men’ episode.” I like “Mad Men” on TV but not in the workplace. Finally making equal pay a reality will reduce poverty, lift up working families and put America on the right side of history. All women and families owe Lilly Ledbetter gratitude for courageously bringing this issue into the forefront.
If you want to continue the conversation about advancing an economic agenda for women and families, listen in on a tele-town hall tonight at 8:30 p.m. EST with the National Partnership for Women and Families, Lilly Ledbetter and House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.).
One way to help close the pay gap is when women have access to a voice on the job. Studies show women union members have higher wages and better health care and retirement benefitsto women workers without union representation on the job.
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This has been reposted from the AFL-CIO.
