Equal Pay Day is TODAY! Quick, Do Something

Catch this, mamas: Equal Pay Day is the point in 2008 when the average woman's wages finally catch up with what the average man earned in 2007.  And guess what?  It's today!  Yup, Friday, April 18.  And all across the land bloggers like us are writing about it.  Power to the blog.  It's high time we tell Congress (again!?) that it’s time to address the reality of discrimination.  Here's what the National Women's Law Center has to say:

Women in the United States are still paid only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. And for women of color, the numbers are even worse. African-American women earn 63 cents and Latinas earn 52 cents for every dollar paid to white men.

Get in on the Action - This is Serious Stuff: Easiest thing to do is take the Fair Pay Campaign Pledge to: support fair pay for women, urge your Senators to support the Lilly Ledbetter Fair pay Act, and forward the pledge to five friends.

And of course you can shoot a quick e-mail to your Senators with the help of Moms Rising, who is also working hard on this one.  And finally, NWLC has a Get Involved page with a bazillion other ideas, including scheduling in-person meetings with your Senators (or just attend Sen. Wyden's 4.20 Town Hall meeting!).

Why Act NOW?  According to the NWLC,the Senate is currently considering legislation that would promote justice for women and other workers who experience compensation discrimination.  Advocates are pushing for the Senate to vote by the end of April, to commemorate Equal Pay Week.

Listen Up Lawyer Mamas: The National Women's Law Center has a special campaign just for you.  Check it out, you can sign your very own petition, just for lawyers. 

Wanna know more?  NWLC has an excellent resource center where you can read all the depressing  - and hopeful - news on this topic.  Moms Rising summarizes the bill this way:

THE LOWDOWN: The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (H.R. 2831) is an important legislative "fix" to a May 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.), which severely limited the ability of victims of pay discrimination to sue and recover damages under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Without this "fix," the impact of the Court's decision will likely be widespread, affecting pay discrimination cases under Title VII involving women and racial and ethnic minorities, as well as cases under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

SAY WHAT?  Basically, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is a narrow "fix" to reestablish law that was in place until the U.S. Supreme Court Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. decision of last year.  This Act stops us from losing ground on civil rights and fixes a fundamental unfairness in the workplace which many women like Lilly Ledbetter face.

During her 19 years with Goodyear, Lilly Ledbetter was paid less than her male counterparts doing the same job.  By the end, she was getting fully 20% less than a male supervisor in the same position! [1] 

Ledbetter received an anonymous note tipping her off after 19 years on the job that she was making less than others and she took action. But the Supreme Court ruled she couldn't recover back wages because she didn't find out about the discrimination until well after six months on the job--even though it was against company policy to discuss wages!

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[LTF]

NYT Opinion piece on this today with great summary and, of course, endorsing the bill: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/opinion/23wed2.html?ex=1366689600&en=2b0572c1bcc2f124&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink.