In a recent Letter to the Editor in the New York Times, Lilly Ledbetter reminded all of us that Congress still has some unfinished business when it comes to ensuring fair pay for women. Specifically, she mentioned the importance of passing the Paycheck Fairness Act – a bill that aims to strengthen current laws against wage discrimination and provides tools to enable the federal government more proactively address it.
It’s an unfortunate reality that pay discrimination persists nearly half a century after the Equal Pay Act outlawed the practice. When women aren’t paid what they are owed, they suffer and so do their families – in income, benefits and retirement security.
Lilly’s determination and fortitude is an inspiration for all of us to continue fighting for pay equity. As Lilly herself has said so many times before, this fight is about ensuring that our daughters and granddaughters will get a better deal. She has traveled far and wide to spread this message, and to make sure no one forgets that women are still falling 22 cents short of equality (http://www.nwlc.org/fairpay/statefacts.html)
Fatima Goss Graves: Fatima Goss Graves is Senior Counsel for Education and Employment at the National Women’s Law Center. She focuses on gender equity in education, including the advancement of women and girls in fields that are nontraditional for their gender, affirmative action, sexual harassment and athletics. Prior to joining NWLC, she worked as an appellate and trial litigator at Mayer, Brown, Rowe, & Maw LLP. She began her career as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She is a graduate of Yale Law School and the University of California at Los Angeles.
