Eighty cents does not equal one dollar, the current gender gap in
pay. A twenty cent difference, often more, sometimes less. An
improvement over 1980 when the difference was forty cents. Progress
yes, but sometimes progress is just not good enough.
Eight dollars a week. Thirty-five dollars a month. Four hundred
and fifteen dollars a year. Two thousand dollars over five years.
Often more, sometimes less. Bottom line, one dollar should equal one
dollar, for a man or a woman, even in these crazy economic times.
What a thrill it was to learn that President Obama signed into law the Fair Pay Act, his first piece of legislation signed into law. As the president signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act he said:
"I intend to send a clear message: That making our economy work means making sure it works for everyone. That there are no second class citizens in our workplaces, and that it's not just unfair and illegal -- it's bad for business -- to pay someone less because of their gender, or their age, race, ethnicity, religion or disability."
This law reestablishes the incentive for employers to correct discriminatory pay practices. As part of the Civil Rights Act the Ledbetter Act restores the period of time plaintiffs can recover back pay from 180 days to two years. Lily Ledbetter did the same job as her male colleagues at Goodyear Tire and Rubber for twenty years. Over that period of time, she lost more than $200,000 in salary over her tenure, and even more in pension and Social Security benefits.
The law signed by President Obama will certainly be incentive to pay fair, plain and simple, equal pay for equal work. We shouldn't need laws to protect this right, but until that time comes it's good to know that our president prioritized this next, great act of equality. We knew he would!
