Ledbetter and Fair Pay

With the economy taking a dive over the past several months, it seems like issues of pay equity have been pushed to the back burner. They haven't: The Ledbetter and Fair Pay Act are still very much in play and have a good chance of becoming law under the Obama administration.

January 12, 2009
Houses Passes Equal-Pay Bills
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved two pieces of legislation that proponents say will boost protections against gender discrimination in compensation.

The House has voted in favor of the legislation before, but proponents say the bills have a better chance this time around because the Senate has more Democrats and President-Elect Barack Obama supported the legislation (he voted for it before as a Senator).
Read more here.

Even though there's a good chance of these bills passing, it doesn't change the fact that (nationally), women still earn approximately 80 cents for every dollar a man earns in a comparable position. And despite the economy, this means if you're lucky enough to still have a job and if you're a woman, you're making less. The only way to bring our average up is for each woman to know her worth, to research how much she should be making, and to learn how to skillfully negotiate on her own behalf.

A friend emailed me yesterday and told me she plans to "channel Betty" (Friedan) this year and I say, brava! We could all be a little more Betty. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read the original "Being Betty" essay here.