SmallBizResource Blog -- Women in Business

Wednesday's Woman: Push Your Senators for Fair Pay

Posted by Gayle Kesten Wednesday, Jul 30, 2008, 02:12 PM ET

Last week I received an e-mail from advocacy group MomsRising.org, which took exception to a New York Times article that intimated men and women are equally suffering from the economic downturn.

Actually, MomsRising.org seems more bothered by the article's headline, "Women Are Now Equal as Victims of Poor Economy," than the article itself, which cited new research that found "women are being afflicted on a large scale by the same troubles as men: downturns, layoffs, outsourcing, stagnant wages or the discouraging prospect of an outright pay cut. And they are responding as men have, by dropping out or disappearing for a while."

Straight out of my e-mail:

"Earlier this week the headline on the front page of The New York Times declared, "Women Are Now Equal as Victims of Poor Economy." But "Equal"? Really?

While it's true that both men and women are suffering in this economic downturn, women still bear the lion's share of the burden. Women in the U.S. are still paid only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men -- mothers only 73 cents, and single mothers about 60 cents.

For women of color, the numbers are even worse -- African-American women earn 63 cents and Latina women earn 52 cents for every dollar paid to white men. With numbers like these, it's easy to see why protection from wage and other job discrimination is a critical component of economic security for women and families, especially in times of economic downturn."

The good news for MomsRising.org is that it could use the article as a vehicle to remind members to push for the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The legislation, which aims to clarify the timeframe within which pay discrimination claims can be filed, was introduced in 2007 after longtime Goodyear Tire employee Lilly Ledbetter was told/screwed by the Supreme Court that she waited too long to sue for pay discrimination. The Court discounted the fact she had filed with the EEOC as soon as she learned of the disparity, according to The Gavel blog.

The House of Representatives passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act on July 31, 2007, but the legislation has stalled in the Senate. (As an aside, sort of, in April Ms. Magazine reported that presidential candidate Barack Obama wanted to see the bill passed, but John McCain did not, saying "it could contribute to frivolous lawsuits harmful to business.")

Back to MomsRising.org. Its request is for you/me/us to tell our senators to support the bill. The e-mail is already composed. Just go to this Web site and click the Send button. The message will go straight to your senators.

Here's a PDF with more details about the legislation from the National Women's Law Center. Should you need more convincing, read these stories from women who, like Ledbetter, found themselves on the short end of the stick.

How about you? What has been your experience?

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Previous Wednesday's Woman articles:
>> A $1 Million Business Plan
>> Tips Before Putting Your Honey on the Payroll
>> What Working Women Want Mo$t
>> Do Wedding Bells Cause Last Name Hell?
>> Meet Mytopia Co-Founder Galia Ben-Artzi
>> Hear Our Ringtones Roar
>> The Makings of a Smooth Maternity Leave
>> A Rocker Girl's Journey to Tech CEO
>> Why So Many Women Are Bolting From Tech
>> Meet TodaysMama CEO Rachael Herrscher

The Wednesday's Woman series is written for today's community of hard-working, small-business women, featuring profiles, industry trends, research, work/life balance issues and other topics of interest. As always, send your ideas to Gayle Kesten.

Government | Women in Business

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