Pay equality has been a topic of discussion since women became a larger part of the workforce back in the 1940s. Politicians made efforts to help close that gap, with legislation being passed in 1963. Still, the gap remind wide. In 2007, Lilly Ledbetter sued Goodyear Tire & Rubber on the grounds that she had been discriminated against, leading to her being paid less because she was a women. This paper will discuss the issues that Ledbetter brought all the way to the US Supreme Court.
Not only was voting rights an issue, but issues such and equal pay, employment, and general gender bias were still amidst in this century. Although these gender transgressions were brought to attention, not all judges/justice’s would agree with the opinion of the court. For example, in the case of Corning Glass Works v. Brennan, the ultimate decision was that no violations to the Equal Pay Act were enacted, regardless of how unjust the female to male pay ratio was, in male
Equality for Women Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions” set a strong foundation that began the movement towards equality for women. Since her declaration was first presented at the Seneca Falls Convention, there has been considerable improvement in women’s rights. Although most issues she originally brought up have been resolved, there are a few that still need improvement, including the wage gap between men and women, representation in the workforce, and self-image of women. One big issue that remains prominent today in the United States is the gender wage gap, where men are making quite a bit more money that women.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act 2009 is named after a woman who discovered that the men at her workplace received higher pay for doing the exactly same job she was doing. Lilly Ledbetter then took her pay discrimination complaint all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in 2007 that claims like hers had to be filed within 180 days of an employer’s decision to pay a worker less, even if the worker didn’t learn about the unfair pay until much later, as was the case for Mrs. Ledbetter. (Slack, 2012). When Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Act 2009 he not only overturned the 2007 decision of the Supreme Court but he also made it easier for workers to challenge unequal pay. “United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (n.d)” advises “the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 overturned the Supreme Court 's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Inc., 550 U.S. 618 (2007), which severely restricted the time period for filing complaints of employment discrimination concerning compensation.”
“From 1979 to 1998, Lilly Ledbetter worked as a supervisor at Goodyear’s plant in Gadsden, Alabama. Over the course of her career, her pay slipped when compared to the pay of men of equal experience and seniority. She sued the company, alleging pay discrimination on the basis of her gender under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Goodyear argued that the discriminatory act was the decision to pay her less, which took place many years ago and that therefore her lawsuit is too late. In a 5–4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in Goodyear’s favor”, (Lilly M. Ledbetter, Petitioner V.
Feminist saw this as injustice and this was only one issue out of the many. The act passed in 1963 ensured that regardless of sex the worker will get paid the same amount for the task completed and this law still holds till this date. Out the concern
The new ruling by President Obama that employers must disclose pay data also this law extends the period in which a pay discrimination suit can be filed. This law is believed to help the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Labor Department to better do their job and enforce the equal pay laws. Recently discussion of pay within the office is becoming more common and less taboo. Another way that this law is thought to work is also to help companies self-correct without the help of the government are by a lawsuit. The EEOC reports that women are only paid 79 cents on the dollars that the typical man does the gap is even wider for women of color.
The only time that an employer is allowed to make an exception of this law is when one employer has a senior position, in order of merit (i.e. where an employee has been with the firm for a longer time than the other), where one employee’s job is of high quality or quantity, and any other factor apart from their gender. This Act was passed by the congress in June 10, 1963, citing the effects of gender discrimination. According to the congress, gender discrimination led to poor living standards of employees, which greatly affected their health conditions and work efficiency (McKay, 2008). Gender discrimination also led to improper utilization of labor resources, caused labor disputes, and negatively affected commerce.
Gender equality: the pinnacle concept that American society is not-so desperately trying to achieve. Many Americans have convinced themselves that gender equality was remedied by the Nineteenth Amendment and the Second Feminist Movement, and have not considered the thousands of steps that are left on the journey. In recent years, a matter of public interest has been the gender wage gap, stating that women are earning significantly less money than men for doing an equivalent amount of work. Critics of the effort to “break the glass ceiling” claim that a pay gap does not exist, and that if it does, it is because women either do not work as hard, have to tend to their families, or hold lower paying jobs. However, the gender pay gap has been proven to exist in a variety of different forms,
There is still an issue today with equal pay between men, women, and other races. The National Organization for Women fought this same problem in 1966 and NOW are still fighting today. NOW has made an impact on a state level in some states, but they have not impacted the federal level law. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was made, but even today it is not followed through with.
According to the United States Department of Labor, 57% of women get up and go to work in the morning just like men; the difference is they don’t get paid the same. Women have fought for the right to get an equal education, equal rights such as voting, and now women need to fight to get equal pay. Although some choose to believe that gender is no longer a problem in the work place, it is seen as early as high school; on the contrary, this belief is entirely wrong. Women deserve to receive equal pay for equal works because it would financially advance our society, help with the productivity of families and generations to come, and take less of a burden off of men. There are many important people who contribute to passing laws that restrict women inequality; however, Lilly Ledbetter is probably the most important.
The dubbed ‘gender gap’, where the earnings of men and women show a constant divergence in a given year, has lowered from $15,000 per year to around approximately $10,000 (NCPE, 2016). While this could be seen as a victory since the Equal Pay Act of 1963, many women were still discouraged by this gap. In an article called Equal Pay Action from the Gazette News explains a case where male tellers of Bonwit Tellers were paid more than females under the explanation that “men’s clothes are more difficult to sell than women’s clothes” (Komisar, 1973). The article goes on to explain how to observe your work environment and report complaints to the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Labor Department. Without articles and other broadcasts of inequality of the workplace, women would not have pushed for a change due to feeling they were alone in their financial
Studying various literally work, one realizes that the greatest form of discrimination that led to the drafting of this act was chauvinism and racial discrimination. Before this law came into play, when a man and woman applied for a tasking job, the man had a greater opportunity of getting the job simply because of his gender (). Most employers give gender preference to actual qualification when hiring workers. Females were mostly considered for jobs such as house keeping, baby sitting, and career in the food industry. () claims that both men and women must be given equal opportunities when it comes to hiring since experience does not come with gender.
Ever since the beginning of time, Men have always been perceived as superior to men and society nowadays continues to treat women even in the workplace, The glass ceiling however is mostly used to describe the limitations imposed on qualified women in the workplace. Woman who is graduated from bachelor degree has less chance to apply the work due to the gender. It has conducted me the question about gender inequality at workplace is still in the society. B.The purpose of this paper is to show that women nowadays are afforded more opportunities than in the past and the role of women in the workplace. 1.
The United States is currently facing an economical problem that involves males and female differences within the workplace. Males are given bigger and sometimes even better rewards for doing equal amounts of work as their female counterparts. Females are frequently not receiving the same wage even if they can complete the same job of a male. Also, females are less likely to get promoted within their job if they are competing against a male. A source states, “Women are now more likely to have college degrees than men, yet they still face a pay gap in every single education level,