President Obama signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law (photo: AAUW)
A year ago today, men and women across the country celebrated as our nation’s new president signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law. Linda Hallman, AAUW’s executive director, and Lisa Maatz, AAUW’s director of public policy and government relations, had front-row seats for this historic event, which was also the first bill signing ceremony of President Obama’s new administration. AAUW staff crowded around small televisions in the office to watch the event, which symbolized the culmination of years of hard work.
Many AAUW members and pay equity supporters told us how special the moment was for them as well—a reward for all the e-mails sent, calls made, and visits paid to their members of Congress. Together with the House passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act earlier that month, we felt we were finally on the road to fair pay.
But a year later that same road to fair pay seems blocked — or at least fraught with major delays. While women have come a long way since the Equal Pay Act was signed into law in 1964, pay discrimination is still prevalent. The Paycheck Fairness Act, the essential companion legislation to the Ledbetter bill, remains stalled in the Senate. And data released by U.S. Census Bureau showed that, in 2008, women continued to earn just 77 cents on average for each dollar earned by their male counterparts. See what the wage gap is in your state.
As women now make up half of the workforce, wage discrimination hurts the majority of American families. And in these tough economic times, when more and more and more families are counting on a woman’s paycheck to make ends meet, pay equity is even more important, not simply to family economic security today and retirement security tomorrow, but also to the nation’s current economic recovery.
What a difference a year almost made for women and their families. But there is good news: Thanks to the hard work and dedication of pay equity supporters, the Senate leadership just announced that a committee hearing on the Paycheck Fairness Act will be scheduled in the next few months. This is the next critical step toward getting the bill to the floor for a vote. Even if you have taken action on this issue before, we need your voice now! Urge your senators to cosponsor and move to quickly pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.
As Lilly said last year, passing the Ledbetter bill without passing the Paycheck Fairness Act is like giving someone a nail but not a hammer. When the House passed both the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act, they demonstrated a firm, bipartisan resolve to attack wage discrimination on all fronts. Now, one year later, it’s past time that the Senate does the same.
Find out more about what you can do to mark Equal Pay Day on Tuesday, April 20, the symbolic day when women’s wages catch up to men’s wages from the year before. Download our Pay Equity Resource Kit and Equal Pay Day Program in a Box and order AAUW “Women at a Discount” posters and stickers for use at AAUW events, meetings, rallies, and even protests.
On behalf of AAUW, many thanks to Huffington Post for not only featuring this Op-Ed on the one year anniversary date of the Lilly Ledbetter Act being signed into law but also putting it on the front page!!