When I was a kid, my mom was an ardent feminist and fought hard for women’s rights. We attended rallies, she lobbied her members of Congress, and she was vocally outspoken about it. One of the buttons she wore on her purse was a simple forest green button with a simple white “59¢” it. The “59¢” represented the amount of money that women made, on average, for every dollar a man made doing the same job.
Today, 30 years later, that amount is about 77¢”.
There is a law that Democrats have been trying to pass for quite some time that would change that. It’s called the Paycheck Fairness Act. It was first introduced in the Senate in 2009 by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. It was defeated by only two votes in the Senate.
In his weekly address this week, President Obama called for passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act that will ensure that women are paid the same as men for equal work. In other words, having to use the rights gained by the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which allows women to sue for equal pay, this law would require equal payment as a matter of law.
I was so disappointed when an important bill to give women more power to stop pay disparities – the Paycheck Fairness Act – was blocked by just two votes in the Senate. And that’s why I’m going to keep up the fight to pass the reforms in that bill.Achieving equality and opportunity for women isn’t just important to me as President. It’s something I care about deeply as the father of two daughters who wants to see his girls grow up in a world where there are no limits to what they can achieve.
In the year 2011 there is absolutely no excuse for not passing this law. Not. One. Excuse. I’m thrilled to see the President speaking out on this.
Oops. There I go cheerleading again…
I’m just sayin’…
