By Quill
So, as promised, here is my contribution to "Blog for Fair Pay for Women" on Equal Pay Day. As the statistics show, women (especially women of color) have a long way to go before they earn as much as men for the same amount of work:
In Lily M. Ledbetter's case, she did not discover that she was making less than her male co-workers - even those with less seniority - until someone slipped her an anonymous note about the matter, after nearly 20 YEARS of service at the Goodyear Tire plant in Gadsden, Alabama. She was the only woman out of 17 employees at the same management level at the plant.
In response to the court's dubious decision, Congress is voting on the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act next week, as early as Wednesday. This bill would allow people to prosecute their employers for pay discrimination without a 180-day time limit by designating each discriminatory paycheck as an ongoing violation of the law.
I encourage you to sign the petitions (here and here) being collected by the National Women's Law Center and the ACLU to encourage your congress members to vote for this legislation.
If you want to find other ways to get involved, check out the websites of the two previously mentioned organizations as well as MomsRising.org, an organization dedicated to making American corporate culture more family-friendly.
Donating your name and two minutes of your time will help make America a more just place for everybody.
- Women are paid only 77 cents for every dollar paid to men.
- African-American women are paid 63 cents for every dollar paid to white men.
- Latinas are paid 52 cents for every dollar paid to white men.
In Lily M. Ledbetter's case, she did not discover that she was making less than her male co-workers - even those with less seniority - until someone slipped her an anonymous note about the matter, after nearly 20 YEARS of service at the Goodyear Tire plant in Gadsden, Alabama. She was the only woman out of 17 employees at the same management level at the plant.
In response to the court's dubious decision, Congress is voting on the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act next week, as early as Wednesday. This bill would allow people to prosecute their employers for pay discrimination without a 180-day time limit by designating each discriminatory paycheck as an ongoing violation of the law.
I encourage you to sign the petitions (here and here) being collected by the National Women's Law Center and the ACLU to encourage your congress members to vote for this legislation.
If you want to find other ways to get involved, check out the websites of the two previously mentioned organizations as well as MomsRising.org, an organization dedicated to making American corporate culture more family-friendly.
Donating your name and two minutes of your time will help make America a more just place for everybody.
