Thursday, January 29, 2009

Obama Proves to be a Gentleman

So, Barack's first bill signed into order was a women's rights bill.

Check it out: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/obama.

The Lilly Ledbetter Act is supposed to guarantee equal pay for women.

Ledbetter sued her former employer, Goodyear, when she found that she had been receiving less pay than her male counterparts for years. She has said that coworkers informed her through anonymous messages about the disparity, which she realized could only be attributed to her sex.

Ledbetter lost her sexual discrimination case against Goodyear Tire Co. in Supreme Court in '07. She went on to campaign for women's rights, transforming into somewhat of the poster child for equal pay. She appeared on various TV shows as an advocate, pouring out her heart to the likes of Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters. And she appeared at '08 Democratic Convention.

You can read about her case here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/29/AR2007052900740_2.html

Does equal pay mean we are where we dreamt of being in the 60s when the Equal Rights Amendment was cooked up (and rejected)? This is great progress. But do you think a bill is going to change our patriarchally-dictated society. I don't expect glass ceilings to crash down on us any time soon.

We can look forward to equal compensation, but will we get equal promotions? Equal hiring? Equal chances to move up? Considering how few female CEOs there are, I doubt it. But I hope I'm wrong! What do you guys think?

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